الملخص الإنجليزي
Abstract
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is highly prevalent among chronic dialysis patients and is the most common cause of liver disease. In Oman, one published study on the prevalence of HCV in patients with renal disease was done eleven years ago in 1993. It was based on serological testing only. The current study was conducted in order to find the true prevalence of HCV among dialysis patients by combining serological and molecular techniques. It also aimed to find the contribution of different risk factors to HCV positivity and the distribution of HCV genotypes among this group of patients. Samples from 131 patients on regular hemodialysis were tested for anti-HCV by third generation Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA) and Recombinant Immunoblot Assay (RIBA). Samples were further retested by Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) and then genotyped if positive. 20.6% patients had antibodies to hepatitis C when tested by EIA and out of these 74.1% were positive by RIBA, HCV RNA was detected in 24 patients. One of these patients had no antibodies but he had the virus. Genotype one was the most common genotype in these patients. Duration of dialysis, number of dialysis sessions per week, kidney transplantation and dialysis outside the country were associated with HCV infection. Blood transfusion was not a significant risk factor in contrast to the previous study done in Oman. The prevalence of HCV infection among dialysis patients at Bousher Dialysis Unit is relatively high. It is proposed that HCV PCR should be routinely used in addition to serology, to screen all new hemodialysis patients, and all cases suspected to have hepatitis C virus infection. Adherence to universal precautions should be reinforced, and the practice of segragating infected from non-infected patients should continue.
