Study of Seroprevalence of Hepatitis C Viral Infection in Haemodialysis Patients

ABSTRACT Hepatitis C is an emerging infection in India. This study was aimed to determine the prevalence of HCV infec-tion among patients who were on haemodialysis for more than six months and to assess the risk factors associ-ated with it and find means to reduce the transmission of HCV infection. This study was conducted at Tirunelveli medical college hos-pital from October 2010 to November 2011. A total of 121 patients were included in the study. The third generation commercial ELISA kit was used for detection of antibodies to Hepatitis C Virus in the patient’s serum. In the present study, Out of the 121 patients tested, 7 (5.8 %) patients were seropositive for HCV infection. The mean age of the positives was 36.9±12.9 years. All of them were male. The results revealed that there was a very strong association between the number of blood transfusions and HCV positivity (P<0.001). The positivity increased according to the number of haemodialysis centres visited, which was statistically very highly significant. (P<0.001) The mean duration of haemodialysis among the HCV positive patients was 28.7 ± 18.3 months with statistical significance. There was an association between HCV positivity and blood transfusion. The possibility of acquiring HCV infection was more, when the patient visited more than one haemodialysis centre and with increased duration of haemodialysis. Strict adherence to universal precautions, well screened blood transfusion, early screening and isolation of patients, proper disinfection measures in dialysis units will definitel