Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Mar-Apr;32(2):200-2.
doi: 10.5144/0256-4947.2012.200.

Prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection and human immunodeficiency virus in a cohort of Egyptian hemophiliac children

Magy S Abdelwahab  1 , Mona S El-Raziky, Normine A Kaddah, Heba H Abou-Elew
Affiliations

Prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection and human immunodeficiency virus in a cohort of Egyptian hemophiliac children

Magy S Abdelwahab et al. Ann Saudi Med. 2012 Mar-Apr.

Abstract

Background and objective: The risk of blood-borne infections, especially hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection still remains in developing countries among children receiving blood products as hemophiliacs, but the risk is not known in Egypt. The objective of this study was to detect the prevalence of HCV and HIV infection among hemophiliac children to know the magnitude of the problem and determine potential risk factors.

Patients and methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted on 100 hemophiliac children that assessed the liver clinically and by laboratory tests. All children were screened for HCV and HIV antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Those with positive HCV antibody titre were tested by polymerase chain reaction (HCV-PCR).

Results: Forty were positive for HCV antibodies with 19 children (47.5%) HCV-PCR positive as well. The mean age, average frequency of bleeds/year, dose of replacement therapy/year and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels were significantly high in HCV-antibody and PCR positive patients as compared to HCV antibody and PCR negative ones. None of our patients had clinical evidence of hepatic involvement or was co-infected with HIV.

Conclusion: HIV infection does not appear to be a current health problem in Egyptian hemophiliac children though the prevalence of HCV infection is still high.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

References

    1. Yee TT, Lee CA. Transfusion-transmitted infection in haemophilia in developing countries. Semin Thromb Hemost. 2005;31:527–37. - PubMed
    1. Mannucci PM. The choice of plasma-derived clotting factor concentrates. Bailleres Clin Haematol. 1996;9:273–90. - PubMed
    1. Seme K, Poljak M, Begovac J, Vince A, Tomazic J, Vidmar L, et al. Prevalence of hepatitis C virus among HIV type-1 infected individuals from Slovenia and Croatia. Acta Viral. 2002;46:91–4. - PubMed
    1. Rezvan H, Abolghassemi H, Kafiabad SA. Transfusion-transmitted infections among multitransfused patients in Iran: A review. Transfus Med. 2007;17:425–33. - PubMed
    1. Medhat A, Shehata M, Magder LS, Mikhail N, Abdel-Baki L, Nafeh M, et al. Hepatitis C in a community in upper Egypt: Risk factors for infection. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2002;66:633–8. - PubMed