الفهرس 
HCV Genome
HCV-related SialadenitisOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The prevalence of HCV antibodies is reported to be higher in Egypt than any other country, due to the mass antischistosomal control campaigns in the past, which contributed to the establishment of a large reservoir of HCV infection in the population. Though such programs ended twenty years ago, children and young adults have a relatively high anti- HCV prevalence, which suggests that HCV transmission continues in the country.
Thousands of people infected with the life-threatening HCV may have caught it during routine dental treatment. Health campaigners warned that current practices in dental surgery, including the way tools are sterilized, may not be rigorous enough to remove the risk of transmission of the highly infectious virus between patients.
Amongst the routes of transmission that are identified as being non percutaneous is transmission by saliva. A biological basis for saliva as a possible source of HCV infection has been established. In conclusion, HCV RNA is present in the saliva of approximately half of patients with acute and chronic hepatitis C, and the presence of HCV RNA correlates with HCV viremia.
Morbidity associated with HCV infection is due not only to the sequelae of chronic liver disease, but also to a variety of extrahepatic manifestations, mostly are immune-mediated. Oral diseases associated with HCV are HCV-related sialadenitis, Sjögren- syndrome, OLP and others.
The aim of this present work was to screen for HCV in dental patients and instruments in some Alexandria dental clinics through the detection HCV antibodies in the saliva of patients attending these clinics and also detection of HCV-RNA in sterilized dental instruments before and after use in the same clinics.
This study was carried out during the period from June 2008 through April 2010 on 100 patients attending some private and public dental clinics in Alexandria. Detailed history was obtained from each patient. This included personal history (name, age, sex, residence) special concern was taken about the medical history especially any liver diseases. Also the study included samples from instruments taken from the same clinics on different periods of the day.
For collecting samples from instruments, sterile swabs immersed in 1 ml sterile PBS were used to wipe instrument surfaces and other parts of dental clinic (eg Dental chair and spittoon and bracket table). Both the swab and rinse sample were collected in a sterile 1.5 ml micro-centrifuge tube, previously dipped in 0.1% DEPC for 2 h and sterilized by autoclaving. The samples were transferred on the same day to the laboratory where they were subjected to RNA extraction and RT steps followed by storage at -20oC until used for HCV RNA detection by nested PCR technique.