@Article{, title={Factors Affecting the Transmission of Hepatitis C Among the Thalassemic Patients in Holy Najaf}, author={}, journal={KUFA MEDICAL JOURNAL مجلة الكوفة الطبية}, volume={18}, number={1}, pages={24-34}, year={2022}, abstract={AbstractOn a global scale, thalassemia is the most frequent genetic condition. The reason that has made thalassemia so widespread are unknown, but they are thought to be related to malaria's geographic distribution. Children with thalassemia have shorter red cell lives, fetal hemoglobin in their red cells longer than normal, and more susceptible red cells to oxidative stress. In humans, thalassemia major is a prevalent hemoglobinopathy. Because thalassemia patients require multiple blood transfusions which is a common transmission vector for hepatitis C virus (HCV), numerous studies have found varying prevalence of hepatitis C among thalassemia major patients. As a result, this study was carried out to discover anti-HCV in thalassemia patients in our location. The main aim of this study is to find out the factors that increase the chance of getting HCV infection in thalassemia patients via a clinical and serological investigation of those patients in Holy Najaf. This is a descriptive analytic study carried out at The Hematology Center in al–Zahraa Teaching Hospital for Maternity and Children in Holy Najaf from October 2019 to October 2020. A total number of 550 patients, 330 males and 220 females, who registered in thalassemic center were surveyed; among them, 48 thalassemic patients were found to have HCV infection when their medical records were analyzed. A detailed clinical account was made for every patient by using a proforma, taking into account information like name, age, sex, residency, age at starting blood transfusion, frequency of blood transfusion per month, splenectomized or not, blood group, HCV antibodies test, and liver function test. The total infected donors with HCV were 43 (0.17%) and 62 (0.30%) at 2019 and 2020 respectively. The study group comprised 48 thalassemic patients, 33 (68.75%) males and 15 (31.25%) females. The mean ± SD age was 18.4 ± 7.57months ranging from 2 to 35 years old. There was a direct association between age and seropositivity to anti-HCV as the latter was significantly associated with older ages (P ≤ 0.01). However, there was no association between gender and anti-HCV seropositivity as there were no significant differences (P= 0.653). Out of 48 patients, 26 (54.14%) live in urban while 22 (45.17%) live in rural areas. In regard to residency, however, there was no direct relationship (P ≤ 0.01) between the residency and the seropositivity to anti-HCV. Yet, there is a high significant relationship (P ≤ 0.01) between frequency of blood transfusion per month and seropositivity to anti-HCV. HCV seropositivity was significantly associated with the longer duration of the disease (P ≤ 0.01). Besides, patients of O+ blood group represented a higher (P ≤ 0.01) seropositivity to anti-HCV than in patients with other blood groups; meanwhile, patients with Rh- showed a lower degree of seropositivity to anti-HCV. In addition, the study showed a highly significant (P≤ 0.01) relationship between splenectomy and seropositivity to anti-HCV.

} }