الفهرس 
Hepatitis C virus infectionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is estimated to be 3% worldwide, Egypt has the largest epidemic of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the world with 14.7% of the population are infected with HCV.
Chronic hemodialysis patients are at higher risk for acquiring hepatitis C virus (HCV). The prevalence varies among different countries and hemodialysis centers. Although guidelines for a comprehensive infection control program exist, the nosocomial transmission still accounts for the new cases of infection.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence differs among hemodialysis units according to their geographical location, health care procedures, socioeconomic factors, hygiene and sterilization of equipment, patient rotation of machines and the undertaking of rigorous universal precaution rules. These features influence the risk of nosocomial transmission of HCV to hemodialysis patients.
The aim of this multicenter study was to assess the prevalence of HCV antibodies among hemodialysis patients in Cairo Governorate (sector E).
All patients in this study were given a Questionnaire for assessment of risk factors causing HCV infection in hemodialysis patients including (age, sex, cause of CKD, HCV antibodies at start hemodialysis, HBs Ag ,family history of hepatitis, timing of seroconversion, duration of HD, previous blood transfusion, previous surgery, isolation, procedure in centers, infection control measures, switch of dialyzed patient between centers, vascular accessand history of Bilharziasis).
Our study included all ESRD patients undergoing HD in CairoGovernorate (Sector E). 600 patients distributed in the following areas : 15 mayo , Helwan , El-Tebeen , El-Maadi , Misr el-kadeema , Elsayeda-Zeinab , El-Mokatam , El-Khalifa and El-Basateen .
Our study revealed that 56% of patients were males,34% were females.The mean bulk of the affected patients were with mean age of 54.2 ± 14.7 years,mean duration of dialysis of the seroconverted group was 77.65 ±53.97 months.
This study revealed that the most common causes of renal failure were hypertension (33.7.5%), Diabetes Mellitus (25.2%), then ESRD of unknown etiology(17.3%) and obstructive uropathy(5.8%),polycystic kidney (5%) while the other causes like systemic lupus,analgesicnephropathy,glomerulo-nephritis and nephrotic syndrome represent 13% .
Out of 600 HD patients HCV-Abs were positive in 277/600 patients with a prevalence of 46.2%.At the start of dialysis, there were 199/600 (33.2%) patients who tested +ve for HCV-Abs, while there was 401/600 (66.8%) HCV-Abs –ve patients. Out of these HCV-Abs –ve patients 78/401 (19.5 %) patients showed HCV-Abs seroconversion.
In the present study we searched for the factors associated with HCV seroconversion, some of these factors were of a statistically significant value like; previous blood transfusion ,duration of HD and age of the patients .Other factors like sex,history of surgery, A-V fistula,family history of HCV, switching between dialysis places, vascular access, isolation procedures, infection control measures, Bilhariazizwere of no significant value.