Prevalence of and risk factors for hepatitis C in rural pregnant Egyptian women

Abstract

Prevalence and risk factors for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection were studied in 2,587 pregnant women from three rural Egyptian villages in the Nile Delta being admitted to a prospective cohort study of maternal-infant transmission; 408 (15.8%) had antibodies to HCV (anti-HCV) and 279 (10.8%) also had HCV-RNA. Fewer than 1% gave a history of jaundice or liver disease. Risk factors for anti-HCV included increasing age, low socioeconomic status and a history of blood transfusion or injection therapy for schistosomiasis. Sub-analyses after stratification of subjects by village revealed risks associated with specific venues for medical care, having a previous delivery attended by a traditional birth assistant (TBA), receiving medical care in a temporary clinic located in a mosque, overnight admission to a private doctor's clinic, and circumcision by a TBA or a 'health barber'. Our results suggest HCV causes very little detected illness in young adult Egyptian women and some sources of HCV transmission in rural Egypt in the past were associated with the provision of medical care and varied by location. Prevention should be focused on providing appropriate resources and health education should be given to formal and informal health care providers and should be sufficiently broad to adjust for local variations in exposures.

Seroprevalence of Hepatitis C Virus among Population in Luxor Governorate, Egypt

“…This pattern of high anti-HCV prevalence in rural areas is similar tо multiple studies conducted in rural areas of Delta gоvernоrates which shоw a prevalence ranging frоm 14.4 to 18.5% [21,[30][31][32].…”

Safety and Efficacy of Pegylated Interferon alpha-2a and Ribavirin Combination in Treatment of Egyptian Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C Genotype-4

“…Although such treatment has discontinued since the late 1980s, a substantial transmission is still going in modern day Egypt [9]. Much of this transmission occurs through iatrogenic and interfamilial routes of transmission [15,16]. Nevertheless, a significant proportion of CHC Egyptian patients have an unknown source of infection indicating the possibility of undiscovered modes of transmission [17].…”

Hepatitis C Virus in Egypt: Is More Than One Challenge

“…In Egypt, a study was conducted among intravenous drug users revealed 63.0% prevalence of HCV [29]. High HCV prevalence was also observed among pregnant women and children in Egypt, a prevalence of ~8.0% in Benha [30] and 15.8% in rural villages of the Nile Delta [14].…”

“…The most common HCV infection risk factors in Egypt are increasing age, a history of PAT, and residing in rural areas [14,15]. Other common risk factors were related to health care settings as history of blood transfusions, invasive procedures, injections, hemodialysis (HD), and dental work [6, [15][16][17][18][19].…”