Hamid Hussain, Rashid Iqbal, Muhammad Hussain Khan, Bushra Iftikhar, Sabina Aziz, Fayaz Khan Burki, Junaid Sethi, Mumtaz Hassan, Yasir Bin Nisar, Jai Krishan.
Prevalence of Hepatitis C in beta thalassaemia major.
Gomal J Med Sci Jan ;6(2):87-90.

Background: Thalassaemias is inherited as an autosomal recessive disorder. Due to repeated blood transfusions in thalassaemic children, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV infection can occur in these patients. Hepatitis C virus infection is common in Pakistan. Multiple transfused patients represent a major risk group for hepatitis C acquirement. The aim of this study was to know the prevalence of hepatitis C in beta thalassaemia major children in our set up. Material & Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 2 years duration from January 2002 to December 2003, conducted at Children Hospital Institute of Medical Sciences Islamabad and Fatmid Foundation Peshawar. Children age 3 months to 12 years, with beta thalassaemia having regular blood transfusions at these two centers were enrolled. Complete history and physical examination was carried out in all the patients and blood samples collected for hepatitis C virus. The laboratory technique for analysis was simple manual method, confirmed by ELISA. Results: During the study period, 180 beta thalasssemia major children were enrolled at the two sites. Out of these, 75 (41.7%) children were hepatitis C positive. Conclusion: HCV infection is an important cause of viral infection among thalassaemic children with a prevalence of 41.7% in our study population..

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