Frequency of Various Modes of Transmission of HCV Infection

Objective: To determine the frequency of various modes of transmission for HCV infection in rural Sindh. Material and Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study was carried out from August 2006 to June 2008 at Research Medical Center LUMHS Jamshoro, Departments of Pathology, Nawabshah Medical College Nawabshah and Department of Biotechnology, University of Karachi. Study included 344 patients (239 men and 105 women with ages range 18–55 years) having positive HCV-PCR with different genotypes. All patients went for presence of HCV antibodies by ELISA and HCV RNA by Real Time PCR. Patients were asked to complete a questionnaire of clinical and epidemiological data to determine the various modes of transmission. Results: Among 344 patients, 226 (77.32%) were exposed to single risk factor, 69 (20.05%) to more than one risk factor, where as 9 (2.61%) patients never encountered any risk factor. Parental transmission of infection was the most common mode of transmission (n=143;41.56%) followed by surgical history in 74 (21.51%), blood transfusion in 66 (19.18%), needle accident in 43 (12.5%), exposure to barber in 42 (12.2%), promiscuous sex act history in 18 (5.23%), I/V drug users in 13 (3.77%), and tattoo marks in 5 (1.45%) patients. However no patient was found with positive history of prenatal, and inhalational drug route of transmission. Conclusion: ‘Parental route’ found to be the most common mode of transmission of HCV infection. The rate of HCV infection in the society may be controlled/ reduced by taking safety measures in various routes of transmission