Sexual transmission of hepatitis C virus in spouses of patients suffering from hepatitis C virus

Objective: to find out whether sexual transmission is an important source of transmission of hepatitis c virus between spouses. material and methods: this cross sectional study was carried out in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology,khyber teaching hospital and department of medicine,lady reading hospital,peshawar from january to december 2010. serum samples from 92 index patients and their spouses were assayed for hepatitis c virus (hcv) antibodies and hcv rna. in the couples positive for both,further hcv genotyping was done. a questionnaire addressing points such as additional risk factors for hcv infection,sexual behaviour or duration of partnership was completed by all couples. results: sixty three (68.5%) of the 92 spouses were male and 29 (31.5%) were female. their mean age was 41.97 years ± 7.742. all had a sexual relationship with the study patient. of them 14 (15.2%) were positive for anti-hcv antibodies,and eleven (12%) were also positive for hcv rna. all the spouses' positive for anti-hcv had no history of extramarital relationship and premarital hepatitis. in six couples the genotype was concordant (four had genotype 3a while two had 3b) and in five,the genotypes was discordant. conclusion: the heterosexual transmission of hcv is possible but infrequent in monogamous sex partners of patients with hcv viraemia. the risk of sexual transmission does not seem to correlate with intensity and duration of sexual exposure.