EPIDEMIOLOGY OF HEPATITIS C IN ALBANIA

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne, infectious, viral disease that is caused by a hepatotropic virus called Hepatitis C virus (HCV). The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics of anti-HCV positive persons in the general population in Albania. Sera specimen from all over the country submitted for testing at Institute of Public Health (IPH) along with individual reporting form including sociodemographic, epidemiological, clinical and risky behaviour exposure variables. Serum specimens were tested for anti-HCV by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). From 5439 specimens analysed in total, 71 of them resulted positive for the presence of anti-HCV-antibodies, corresponding to a prevalence of 1.3%. The prevalence of anti-HCV among females is 1% (39/4028) whereas among males is 2.3%( 32/1411). Males are 2.4 times more likely than females to have anti-HCV antibodies (OR=2.4 95%CI 1.5 ? 3.8 p<0.001). The highest seropositivity rate was found among drug users (40%) followed by hemodialysed individuals (25.4%) and blood transfusion (6.3%). There is no vaccine for hepatitis C, therefore prevention of HCV infection depends upon reducing the risk of exposure to the virus in health-care settings, in higher risk populations.