Hepatitis C Viral Infection among Health Care Workers at Dialysis Centers in Khartoum State, Sudan

Hepatitis C virus infection continues to be a major public health problem warranting high priority efforts for control and treatment. An observational, cross-sectional facility based study was conducted to measure the prevalence of HCV infection and to identify risk factors associated with HCV infection among health care workers at dialysis centres in Khartoum State. Sudan. A total of 109 participants were selected. It conducted through stratified random sampling. For the analysis, Z-test and Fishers exact test were used. All participants in this study were tested for HCV marker (Anti-HC), the positive for Anti-HC was found to be 1.8 % (2/109), which was found among nurses and medical engineers. The results showed association between Anti-HC positivity and blood transfusion, frequency of blood transfusion and exposure to sharp injuries, P values ( 0.003, 0.0001 and 0.029) respectively. Conclusion prevalence rate of Anti-HC was found to be low in HCWs (1.8 %). The prevalence rate was found among nurses and medical engineers. Blood transfusion, frequency of blood transfusion and exposures to sharp injuries to be risk factors with Anti-HC positivity.