Abstract
Introduction: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause of acute and chronic liver disease. The incidence of this is rising rapidly in India, and spreads by contaminated blood and blood products. This infection is detected by presence of anti-HCV antibody in patient’s serum. This study aims to determine HCV seroprevalence in our region. Methods: This cross sectional hospital based study was conducted from May to December 2018. 2-4 ml of venous blood sample was collected from all patients, and subjected to anti-HCV antibody detection by Chemiluminescence ELISA in Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (VRDL) at Department of Microbiology. Results: A total of 9340 blood samples were screened for anti-HCV antibody, of these 217 (2.3%) were found positive. This seroprevalence was contributed by 122 (56.2%) males and 95 (43.8%) females. The mean age and standard deviation of all seropositive cases was (Mean±SD) 40.35±15.38 years. Although, most of the seropositivity was seen in the age group of 20-39 (47%), and least (4.6%) in age group 0-19 years. Conclusion: HCV infection predominantly affects young adults, which is due to cumulative risk of exposure with increasing age. Infection approximately equally distributed in both gender.
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