Comparison of Contamination Passing Through Iranian and Non- Iranian Filters of Ultra Filtration Dialysis Machines in Patients With Hepatitis C

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis C is one of the common infectious diseases throughout the world. About 170 million people worldwide are infected with Hepatitis C virus. The most common route of transmission is direct blood-to-blood contacts. OBJECTIVES: This study conducted to compare the amount of contamination might be found in ultra-filtered liquid passed through 2 kinds of filters ps10 (Mediatex, Iran) and Lups (Bio brand, Germany). PATIENTS AND METHODS: To achieve the goal, infected dialysis patients in which hepatitis C virus infection was detected by Elisa and PCR were selected. RESULTS: As shown in data the first stage of PCR test using ps10 filters all samples were negative. In the second step performed in later dialysis steps (with Lups filters), no infection was recorded, too. CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that dialysis machines do not have an important role in transmission of hepatitis C infection and sanitation control in the environment of dialysis should be emphasized.