Prevalence of HCV Infection in General Population of District Malakand, Pakistan: A Comparative Analysis of the Diagnostic Techniques

Hepatitis C is a fatal liver disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Symptoms of the infection may not be present in the early stage, but chronic infection may leads to cirrhosis of the liver. This study is designed to evaluate the prevalence of hepatitis C virus in the general population of district Malakand. The current study aims to assess the prevalence of infection and effective detection through different diagnostic techniques. Random blood sampling was performed from different areas in district Malakand, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The samples were tested for anti-HCV antibodies by Immunochromatographic technique (ICT), Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and real-time PCR. A total of 1431 samples (338 males and 1093 females) were screened for HCV infection, out of which 27 (7.98%) males and 32 (2.92%) females were seropositive by ICT method. Sixteen (4.73%) males and 19 (1.73%) females were seropositive by ELISA technique, and 12 (3.6%) males and nine (0.82%) females were positive by real-time PCR. Overall prevalence was found to be 1.47%. Our results suggest that prevalence of infection was high in males as compared to females. It was depicted from the study that prevalence of infection increased with increasing age. We suggest that advanced techniques such as ELISA should be used for screening of HCV in a resource-limited area followed by real-time PCR confirmation as a final diagnostic technique to confirm the actual infection.