TY  - EJOU
AU  - 
T1  - Prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus Infection among People Attending A Voluntary Screening Centre in Masaka, Nasarawa State, Nigeria
T2  - The Asia Journal of Applied Microbiology

PY  - 2016
VL  - 3
IS  - 3
SN  - 2313-8157

AB  - Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an emerging public health problem in Nigeria.
 This study therefore determined the seroprevalence of this virus among 
people of a rural settlement in Nigeria during which 600 people were 
screened for HCV infection. Five ml of blood was collected from each 
participant, the serum harvested and screened for anti- HCV using a 
Chromatographic rapid test kit (ACON Inc. USA) according to the 
manufacturer’s instructions .The overall prevalence of HCV infection in 
this population was 24.2% being higher among males (23.7%) than females 
(23.7%) (p? 0.05). Only Educational level had a significant association 
with infection (p < 0.05). When stratified by age infection was 
highest among those aged 21 -30 years (27.4%) and least among those aged
 51 years and above (3.6%) (p? 0.05). Occupation and marital status also
 had no statistically significant relationship with viral infection. The
 24.2% infection rate reported  in this population is a cause for alarm 
because it means there is a high viral reservoir in the area. There is 
also a high number of persons likely to have end- stage liver diseases 
among these participants. The absence of identifiable risk factors is a 
major challenge to prevention and control and demonstrates the need for 
reevaluation of transmission routes in the locality. Screening should be
 available and affordable.
KW  - HCV
KW  - Anti- HCV
KW  - Prevalence
KW  - Masaka
KW  - Nigeria.
DO  - 10.18488/journal.33/2016.3.3/33.3.31.37