ABSTRACT

Introduction:  Hepatitis C virus (HCV) belongs to the family of Flaviviridae. Hepatitis caused by viruses are the major health problems globally affecting 2 to 15 million people annually. The prevalence of HCV varies from one area to another.

Objective: To assess the sero- prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus at tertiary care hospital in district Bannu

Methodology: This cross-sectional study was carried out at the department of Medicine, Khalifa Gulnawaz Hospital, Bannu for duration of six months from March 2021 to August 2021. All the information were recorded on the pre-designed proforma. Blood samples were taken from all the patients and sent to the diagnostic laboratory of the hospital for the screening of hepatitis C virus. All the data was analyzed statistically by using SPSS version 24.  

Results: Totally 444 patients were included in the study. 208 (63.60%) males were sero-positive for HCV and 66 (56.41%) females were sero-positive for HCV. The overall prevalence of hepatitis C was 61.71% (n=274). Most of the HCV positive cases (35.58%) were identified in 49-60 years of age group, followed by 1.83.9% in 37-48 years, 9.23 % 25-36 years and 4.07 13-24 years respectively.

Conclusion: Our study concludes that hepatitis C virus is highly prevalent is district Bannu. To gain a better understanding, HCV genotyping study is required to determine which genotypes are circulating and to compare those genotypes to other circulating genotypes in Pakistan.