Mukhtar Ali Shah0, Muhammad Tahir Khan, Zahoor Ulla, Yasmin Ashfaq.
Prevalence of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C virus infection in multi-transfused thalassemia major patients in North West Frontier Province.
Pak J Med Sci Jan ;21(3):281-3.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of hepatitis B & hepatitis C virus infection in multitransfused thalassaemia patients. Study: A prospective study Place and duration of study: Department of Pathology, Khyber Medical College Peshawar and Fatimid Foundation Peshawar from January 2000 to January 2001. Patients and Methods: This study was carried out on 250 multitransfused thalassaemia major patients. They were screened for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and anti hepatitis C virus antibodies (anti-HCV antibodies) by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). The patient`s ages ranged from 1½ year to 19 years. Majority of the patients included in the study had received more than 10 transfusions. The males were 180 (72%) and the females were 70 (28%). Results: Out of these 21 patients (8.4%) and 142 (56.8%) have been screened positive for HBsAg and anti HCV antibodies respectively. Conclusion: It has been recommended that properly screened blood, using a reliable method like ELISA, be only transfused to thalassaemic subjects in order to avoid /reduce transfusion associated infection.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com