Sero-prevalence and associated risk factors for hepatitis C virus infection among voluntary counseling testing and anti retroviral treatment clinic attendants in Adwa hospital, northern Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major health concern where about 3 % of the world’s population is infected globally. In Ethiopia the prevalence ranges from 0.9 to 1.3 % in the general populations. Human immune deficiency virus (HIV) patients due to their weak immune response are heavily affected by the virus. There is no data on magnitude and associated risk factors for HCV infection among voluntary counseling, testing center and anti retroviral treatment clinic Attendants in the study area. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the sero-prevalence and associated risk factors for HCV infection among voluntary counseling testing and anti retroviral treatment clinic attendants Adwa general hospital. METHODS: Cross sectional study was carried out among 302 participants (151 HIV-negative from VCT and 151 HIV-positive from ART follow up) clinics of Adwa hospital from September to December, 2014. About 5 ml of venous blood samples were collected from study participants for anti HCV antibody tests. Univariate analyses were used to identify associated variables with anti HCV positivity. Variables having p < 0.05 were considered as statistically significant association. RESULTS: Out of the total 302 participants, 52.6 % of them were females and 47.4 % males. The mean age of the participants was 34.1 year (SD ± 10.5). The overall sero-prevalence of HCV in this study was 4.3 %. The prevalence HCV (6.6 %) was higher among the ART clinic attendants than the VCT (2 %) clinic attendants. History of hospitalization (p = 0.001), tooth extraction (p = 0.018) and blood transfusion (p = 0.041) showed statistically significant association with anti-HCV antibody. CONCLUSION: HCV sero-prevalence in this study was high. The prevalence was three fold higher among HIV positive patients than their counter parts. Thus, screening of HCV should be done among HIV patients for close monitoring and better management in HIV patients.