Hepatitis C virus infection and its correlation with multiple risk factors in local population of Gujranwala Pakistan

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus is a single-stranded RNA virus belonging to the family of Flaviviridae that affects 71 million people in the world. In Pakistan, the occurrence of HCV is 10 million and national efforts are required to identify people. The current study was therefore planned to assess the occurrence of HCV relative to risk factors among the local population of Gujranwala, Pakistan. The viral infection was analyzed qualitatively by using PCR / third-generation ELISA, detailed history, and clinical examination. Data entered in already prepared Performa. For data analysis, SPSS 14 was used. Descriptive statistics mean + standard deviation was used. LFTs have been performed. In the present study, a total of 320 patients (183 females and 137 males) were included. There were 172 (97 females and 75 males) patients diagnosed with HCV while 148 (85 females and 63 males) patients were non-infected. HCV-infected patients were 53.75% and non-infected were 46.25%. There were some additional diseases, 84 patients with HCV patients have diabetes mellitus, 34 patients have smoking addiction and 93 have hypertension. When the ratio between LFTs was observed for non-HCV and HCV patients it is revealed that it was greater in HCV patients. Numerous complications observed like ascites, diabetes mellitus, and splenomegaly. Numerous risk factors were observed in this trial, the most dangerous are the dentist procedures followed by frequent vaccinations, surgery, nose/ear piercing, shaving by barber, blood transfusion, and Jaundice. The result of this study showed that HCV patients have a significantly short life span.