Magnitude of hepatitis C virus infection among asymptomatic Pakistani children

Background: in the current era,viral hepatic infection hcv has become widespread and is the most important reason of liver disease,worldwide. aim: to determine the frequency of hepatitis c virus (hcv) infection in asymptomatic patients admitted in children ward and presenting at children outdoor at akhtar saeed hospital,lahore (a teaching trust hospital). methodology: in this cross-sectional descriptive study,1556 asymptomatic patients attending department of pediatrics were selected non-randomly. the age ranged from 6 months to 14 years. screening for antibodies against hcv (anti-hcv) was performed through kit method and positive cases were confirmed by elisa. informed verbal consent was taken. data was analyzed by using spss 16.0 results: during this study,blood specimens of 1556 participants were screened for hepatitis c. female participants were 602 and males 954 of the studied population. after screening,0.321% (5/1556) was found to be sero-positive anti-hcv. conclusion: data showed 0.32 asymptomatic patients had anti hcv positive. these undiagnosed asymptomatic patients may be a basis of infectivity in the population. evading unnecessary blood transfusion and injections and execution of strict infection control measures are highly recommended to trim down the frequency of spread of hcv infection. © 2016,lahore medical and dental college. all rights reserved.