Epidemiological Aspects of Intrafamilial Spread of HCV Infection in Egyptian Population: A Pilot Study

Mahmoud El-Bendary,Maged El-Setouhy,Gamal Esmat,Tarek Besheer,Emily Kamel,Dalia Omran,Mustafa Neamatallah,Hatem Elalfy

doi:10.4236/ojgas.2014.45034

Abstract

Aim: Liver disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among Egyptians. The major cause is infection with HCV, with 70 000 up to 140 000 newly reported cases annually. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of anti-HCV antibodies among household contacts of HCV index cases and to identify the possible risk factors of transmission of HCV among Egyptian families. Material and Methods: The present external pilot study (double centre study) was performed on a convenient sample of 125 index cases and their 321 household family contacts recruited from Mansoura & Cairo University where 2 questionnaires were used to collect data from the index & their related contacts. The all were exposed to clinical examinations, routine laboratory testing & screening for the prevalence of Anti-HCV antibodies. Results: The prevalence of anti-HCV seropositivity among household contacts of index cases was found to be 13.7% which husbands of female index cases ranked first followed by wives of male index cases (36.36% versus 17.86% respectively, P

Highlights

Liver disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among Egyptians
When the relationship between hepatitis C virus (HCV) status and the degree of kinship to index cases were studied (Table 3), husbands of HCV seropositive female index cases ranked first followed by wives of male index cases (36.36% & 17.86% respectively, P < 0.0001) while sons & daughter followed later (6.84% & 4.94% respectively)
Clustering within families was observed in 10 HCV seropositive index cases

Summary

Introduction

Liver disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among Egyptians. The major cause is infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV), with 70,000 up to 140,000 newly reported cases annually. Egypt has the highest prevalence of HCV worldwide. Prevalence of HCV was reported to be 13.9% among healthy populations and 78.5% among HCC cases. Adults have higher HCV prevalence (15.7%) than children (4.0%). HCV prevailed more in the Nile delta (15.8%) than in Upper Egypt (9.02%) [1] [2]

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