ABSTRACT
Background: Worldwide, tuberculosis and viral hepatitis are common diseases and both remain underdiagnosed and under-treated. Co-infection with tuberculosis and hepatitis is likely to make diagnosis, management and control of either disease difficult and challenging
Objective: To determine prevalence of HCV and HBV infection among PTB patients at Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan
Patients and Methods: One hundred sputum smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients were screened for HCV and HBsAg. In this cross-sectional study, from 1st April to 31st December, 2010 results were analyzed by age, gender, marital, educational and socioeconomic status by using SPSS version 15
Results: Sociodemographic data showed that 66% patients were young between 15-49 years. Only 8 patients had history of blood transfusion, 4 had traveled abroad and none was drug abuser. Most of them were poor. Out of 100 patients [56 male and 44 female] 22% patients were positive for HCV and 3% for HBsAg. Prevalence of HCV infection was significantly higher in married [p value 0.03] and in those with history of blood transfusion [p value 0.004]. No significant statistical difference of prevalence of HCV between male and female, urban and rural, educated and uneducated and in those who traveled abroad or not was found
Conclusion: Prevalence of HCV infection among the pulmonary tuberculosis patients at Rahim Yar Khan [22%] is alarmingly high as compared with general adult Pakistani population [approx. 4.7%]