در بيماران تالاسمي ماژور استان قزوين C و B بررسي شيوع هپاتيت

The Prevalence of Hepatitis B and C Among Thalassemia Major Patients in Ghazvin

Regular blood transfusions for patients with thalassemia major have improved their overall survival, but carry a definite risk of being infected with blood born viruses especially hepatitis B and C. Now a days,it has remained as main health concern about these patients. In this study we tried to define the prevalence rate of hepatitis B and C and survey the related risk factors among a group of thalassemic patients in Ghazvin-Iran. We followed up all of thalassemics in Ghazvin, Iran(103 cases) and could access to 96 patients who were enrolled . The initial data were recorded and the sera were tested for HBV seromarkers, anti-HCV Ab and anti- HIV Ab using ELISA second generation and confirmed by RIBA second generation. Then samples were tested to measure hemoglobin and serum ferritin levels. 23 patients (24.2%) were anti-HCV Ab positive. One patient (1.1%) was HBs Ag positive and there was no anti-HIV positive case. Patientʹs age, and transfusion duration were significantly higher in anti-HCV seropositive patients (P=0.01, P=0.03 repectively). Furthermore, HCV prevalence rate has significantly dropped after applying anti-HCV Ab screening in blood donors (33.3% vs. 0%, P=0.002), and there was no new infected case thereafter. There were no significant associations between anti-HCV Ab seropositivity and history of splenectomy, vaccination against HBV, Patient and family history of hepatitis, and transfusion intervals. The mean of hemoglobin did not differ between two groups, but anti-HCV Ab positive patients had higher serum ferritin compared with anti-HCV negative patients (P=0.007). Hepatitis C Prevalence rate is very high among thalassemics. Screening of blood donors seems to he able to decrease prevalence and incidence rate of HCV infection effectively. Furthermore, serum ferritin level seems to play a significant and independent role on liver injury in thalassemic patients.