PREVALENCE OF HEPATITIS C INFECTION IN MARDAN, KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA: A HOSPITAL BASED STUDY

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major public health burden in Pakistan, where it bears the highest prevalence rate 5%. It is estimated that about 10 million peoples in Pakistan diagnose with hepatitis C. To determine the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in Madan region KPK, A cross-sectional study was conducted in the pathology laboratory, Mardan Medical Complex (MMC) in the month of Feb-2020. For a quantitative analysis, a total of 687 participant with age range from 1 years to 80 years olds (both male 345 and female 342) were selected, who provide their blood samples for HCV antibodies tastings. The sero-prevalence rate was found to be 3.20% (22/687). The majority of the seropositive patients were males i.e., 12 and were in the age group of 21-40 year. Prevalence of HCV in the present study revealed the need for proper screening and preventive measures to control this disease.