The prevalence of Hepatitis C virus in University of Benin Teaching Hospital

SUMMARY

This study showed a prevalence (7.2%) of HCV infection among the young adult population of University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Edo state, Nigeria. Our findings provides additional data on the burden of the disease in Nigeria. Since majority (>80%) of those who contract HCV will progress to chronicity with attendant devastating consequences, it is our hope that a comprehensive survey of HCV prevalence will be conducted in Nigeria in no distant future to determine the national prevalence, regional prevalence differences , high risk groups, and the associated risk factors for contracting the disease. This will go a long way to help in articulating a deliberate national action plan to prevent the disease transmission and to treat those who are already infected. Such measures may include: public awareness campaign on how to reduce the risks of infection; formulation and strict implementation of safe national blood transfusion service policy; provision of voluntary counseling and test services, especially, for the risk individuals like injection drug users, commercial sex workers and healthcare workers. Also the provision of drugs and other related services at subsidized cost for management of those who test positive as the antiviral agents and the laboratory tests for patients’ evaluation are often expensive.