TITLE:
Estimation of HCV viral load and liver enzymes among different patients groups of District Gujrat, Pakistan
AUTHORS:
Asim Mushtaq, Mujahid Azeem Tariq, Umer Rashid, Amber Afroz, Nadia Zeeshan, Abdul R. Asif, Muzna Zahur
KEYWORDS:
Hepatitis C; Viral Load; Alanine Aminotransferase; Aspartate Aminotransferase; HCV RNA; Gujrat
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology,
Vol.4 No.9,
September
3,
2013
ABSTRACT: Hepatitis C has a 3% of the global
disease burden that remains endemic in many regions of the world. According to a
general statistical survey it has approximately 5.3% seroprevalence in Pakistan.
HCV is a persistent and silent disease thus making the primary diagnosis complicated. Occasionally HCV positive population could not be diagnosed by routine HCV antibody testing therefore requires
molecular diagnosis. This study is aimed to determine the prevalence of HCV and
to estimate the HCV viral load by quantitative
analysis among different patient groups of District Gujrat, Pakistan. A total
of 597 samples were collected from clinically diagnosed liver patients that were
categorized into three age groups: 1) up to 25 years; 2) 26-50 years 3) above
50 years. All samples were subjected to real time PCR for determination and
quantification of HCV RNA. Activity of liver aminotransferases was measured. The
overall prevalence of HCV-RNA was 73.87%. Females had slightly higher HCV prevalence which is 74.06% while 73.45% in males. Highest prevalence of active HCV infection was found in age group 26-50. In addition, liver function tests showed that 28.12% HCV-positive patients
do not have elevated ALT level whereas 32.65% did not show elevated AST levels.
It may be assumed that there is not a significant relationship between increased
viral load and liver amino transferases. The study concluded a significantly higher
rate of HCV infection in young population. Moreover screening with antibody and
liver function tests alone does not exclude the possibility of HCV infection.