The Prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus in Mashhad, Iran: A Population-Based Study

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a significant health problem throughout the world. Chronic form of the disease is found in about 75% to 85% of the newly infected individuals. The chronic infection may lead to severe forms including chronic liver disease, cirrhosis and with a higher mortality rate, hepatocellular carcinoma. Since no vaccine has yet been developed against HCV, there is an increasing need to take measures to control the spread of the infection. Therefore, epidemiologic study of the virus is important to manage and monitor the spread of the virus in the community. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of hepatitis C seropositivity in the general population of Mashhad, northeast of Iran. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Three thousand, eight hundred and seventy (3870) individuals living in the city of Mashhad were recruited using cluster sampling method. HCV seropositivity was determined with HCV antibody detection ELISA kit and was confirmed by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method. RESULTS: In this study the overall seroprevalence of hepatitis C was founded to be 0.2% by using ELISA method. However, the overall Hepatitis C virus infection prevalence was found to be 0.13% with RT-PCR method. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggested that the prevalence rate of Hepatitis C virus is below 1% in the general population of Mashhad.