الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 110 |  |  |
| | | from | 110 | | |
Abstract
SUMMARY
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major worldwide public health problem. It is estimated that nearly about one hundred and seventy million people worldwide are HCV virus antibodies positive of these 35% are women in the childbearing years. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 3% of the world’s population is chronically infected with HCV and that it accounts for around 20% of cases of acute hepatitis and 70% of cases of chronic hepatitis. Africa is reported to have the highest HCV prevalence rate. The prevalence of HCV infection among women of child-bearing age in the United States is approximately 1% and is increased among pregnant women with specific risk factors.
The current work is a cross sectional study performed at the casualty department Beni-suef University Hospital, Egypt, to assess the sero-prevalence rate of (HCV) among the pregnant females attending to Ante natal care in first trimester . A total number of 300 pregnant women were randomly selected. All patients were subjected to full history taking and complete general and obstetrical examinations.
a venous blood sample was collected from each woman and analyzed as screening for hepatitis-C antibody by ELIZA .The result were taken in the form of positive versus negative, HCV RNA and complete liver profile (ALT, AST, Albumin, Bilirubin, PC ) for HCV positive cases. The results of the present work showed that the prevalence of HCV-Abs in the studied samples of the pregnant females were 16 %. Certain risk factors positively correlated with increased risk of HCV-infection, mainly history of blood transfusion, previous operative interventions, previous dental procedures, other risk factors include accidental contamination during medical procedures and unsafe injections using non-disposable syringes.
-The risk of HCV among those who underwent surgeries was 7.69 times as high as the risk of HCV among those who did not have previous surgeries.
-The risk of HCV among those who had blood transfusion was 6.6 times as high as the risk of HCV among those who did not have blood transfusion.
-The risk of HCV among those who underwent dental procedure was 1.27 times as high as the risk of HCV among those who did not have it.
- The risk of HCV among those who had needle stick injury was 2.40 times as high as the risk of HCV among those who did not have it.
-The risk of HCV among those who underwent circumcision was 1.2 times as high as the risk of HCV among those who did not have it. -The risk of HCV among those who had IV drug injection was 1.29 times as high as the risk of HCV among those who did not have it.
There is no unfavorable effect of HCV on pregnancy, no significant difference in obstetric complications between HCV positive cases and HCV negative cases regarding to (spontaneous miscarriage rate, IUGR, congenital anomalies, pre- term delivery, post- partum hemorrhage) with good fetal outcome . The rate of cesarean section was not significantly higher than vaginal deliveries in the study. Rate of cesarean section was due to obstetric indications for cesarean section, there is alittle information about course of HCV and its vertical transmission .
Pregnancy does not affect the clinical course of HCV , There is no statically difference about ( ALT, AST, Bilirubin, Albumin, PC, PT, INR ) measures along the pregnancy and post partum period in HCV positive patient and The patients of the study shows low, moderate and marked viremia , PCR ranges < 100,000 to >1000,000 , mean 331600 , minimum 7000 , maximum 1500000 .
So more further studies for assessment of viral load at regular interval during pregnancy are requested.