Seroprevalence, Epidemiology and Genetic Characterization of Hepatitis C Virus, India

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) causes serious hepatic manifestations viz. chronic liver cirrhosis, necrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Globally 3% of the population is highly affected by HCV infection. A total of 751 HCV suspected samples collected from Primary Health Care centres, both from Private and Government hospitals in Tamil Nadu were screened with anti HCV antibodies-ELISA test revealed a prevalence of 0.5% of the population to have HCV diseases burden in different age groups. The pediatric age groups (1-5 and 6-12 years) were predominantly HCV affected and statistical analysis of the data revealed the significant differences between the age groups. The 28% of the blood transfusion cases showed HCV infections, followed by haemodialysis (12%), intravenous drug abuse (02%), tattoos and piercing (01%), sexual contact and abusement (08%), plasmapheresis (08%), contact to HCV infected material (01%), perinatal (02%), intravenous immunoglobulin treatment (03%), transplantation (18%) and unknown (17%). The predominant symptoms of HCV infection were jaundice (90%), fever (60%), dark urine (48%), hepatomegaly(35%), and spleenomegaly (20%). A severe impact of the Hepatitis C virus infections was on the biomarkers viz. bilirubin, SGOT, and SGPT which were found to be significantly elevated. The elevated levels of total bilirubin were 70%, serum glutamine oxalo transaminase (SGOT) (60%), serum glutamate pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) (60%), alkaline phosphatase (55%) and albumin (49%). Nested PCR amplification of the genomic RNA of the virus isolated from ELISA positive HCV cases yielded specific amplicons. The outer region primers of the HCV core protein yielded precise products of 417 bp while the inner region primers yielded 343bp of amplicons which confirmed the occurrence of HCV infections. The transfusion of blood and products between the donors and recipients are the chief sources and factors of HCV transmission in the population and therefore appropriate precautionary measures are paramount in the prevention of the HCV infections.