Estimation of Hepatitis B Virus, Hepatitis C Virus, and Different Clinical Parameters in the Thalassemic Population of Capital Twin Cities of Pakistan

Abstract

Hepatitis B and C are serious public health problems worldwide. Thalassemia patients are dependent on blood transfusions throughout their life and are at high risk of viral infections. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of hepatitis B/C infections and different clinical parameters in multitransfused thalassemia population. In this study, 262 multitransfused β-thalassemia patients were enrolled from the capital twin cities of Pakistan. The presence of hepatitis B virus (HBV)/hepatitis C virus (HCV), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level, serum creatinine, serum ferritin, hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, and splenectomy were analyzed. The overall prevalence of HBV and HCV was 3.08% and 55.73%, respectively, with 100% of patients older than 20 years had HCV infection. The ALT levels among HBV- and HCV-positive thalassemia patients were 92.62 ± 41.57 U/L and 98 ± 63.65 U/L, respectively; creatinine values observed were 0.4 ± 0.35 mg/dL (for HBV) and 0.39 ± 0.24 mg/dL (for HCV), while serum ferritin levels were 6865.87 ± 1649.13 ng/dL (for HBV) and 5445.95 ± 3059.28 ng/dL (for HCV). A total of 74.8% and 82.20% of HBV- and HCV-positive patients had hepatomegaly with an average increase in liver size of 4.17 and 4.33 cm, respectively. Splenomegaly was observed in 64.9% and 67.12% of HBV- and HCV-positive patients with an average increase in spleen size of 4 and 4.46 cm, respectively. Splenectomy was observed among 14.50% and 15.75% of HBV- and HCV-infected thalassemia patients. There is a strong need to properly screen blood before transfusions to reduce the future load of viral hepatitis from Pakistan.

Hepatitis C virus induces oxidative stress and DNA damage by regulating DNAPKCs, ATM, ATR and PARP mediated signaling and guards cell from cancerous condition by upregulating RB, P53 and downregulating VEGF

“…Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is blood borne pathogen which causes severe liver disorders, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), hepatic steatosis, liver cirrhosis, end stage liver disease and various metabolic disorders (Saeed et al, 2014(Saeed et al, , 2015. In 1975 hepatitis C virus (HCV) was initially recognized as non-A, non-B viral hepatitis (NANBH).…”

Viral outbreaks and communicable health hazards due to devastating floods in Pakistan

“…It has been reported that more than 21204 people were infected with dengue in November 2010 after a worst flood in Punjab [11] . The prevalence of viral infections is unfortunately increasing day by day in developing countries due to limited awareness among the general population [12,13] . Although a new vaccine for dengue fever has proven safe in nonhuman primates, a lot of efforts are required to supply effective vaccines at minimal cost.…”

Detection of Hepatitis C Virus RNA in blood and saliva of transfusion-dependent thalassemia patients diagnosed with Hepatitis C

“…[ 12 ] Epidemiologic studies revealed that 4.5% (Turkey[ 13 ]) to 91.8% (Romani[ 14 ]) of thalassemia patients have HCV infection. [ 15 16 17 18 19 ] In Iran, the prevalence of thalassemia is relatively high and previous studies reported HCV infection in 13.6%,[ 20 ] 19.3%,[ 21 ] 26.9%,[ 22 ] to 39.7%[ 23 ] in Iranian thalassemia patients.…”