Hepatitis C Virus infection in IDPs of war against terrorism in South Waziristan Agency, Pakistan

Zia Ur Rahman Awan^{1, 2*}, Abdul Haleem Shah¹, Hafiz Munib Ur Rahman¹, and Sanaullah Khan³

¹Department of Biological Sciences, Gomal University Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan

²Department of Zoology, Govt. Postgraduate College Bannu, Pakistan

³Department of Zoology, Kohat University of Sciences and Technology Kohat, Pakistan

*Corresponding author Email: ziabiotech78@yahoo.com

Accepted 22 August, 2012

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major public health problem which causing chronic liver disease and affected an estimated 180 million people throughout the world. The main aim of the current study was to investigate the HCV infection and the various associated risk factors in IDPs of South Waziristan Agency. A total of 250 individuals  of the age groups 01-60 years were screened for the detection of anti-HCV antibodies using 3^rd generation assay. All the subjects were also analyzed for ALT and ALP level. Among the total individuals, 28.8% were found positive for the presence of anti-HCV anti bodies. These were further processed for Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), for the presence of HCV RNA confirmation and active infection. A total of 21.6% patients were found to have HCV RNA and were confirmed for active infection of HCV. Prevalence of HCV was found to be higher in males than females. Similarly higher active infection of HCV was found in the old aged peoples and illiterate peoples were more infected than educated peoples. The risk factors observed were dental surgery, skin tattooing, reuse of blades, general surgery, reuse of syringes, drugs addicts, blood transfusion and intrafamilial prevalence. Awareness programs and timed screening needs to prevent the transmission of this dreadful disease in the study area.

Keywords: HCV infection, IDPs, PCR, Risk factors, War against terrorism