ABSTRACT
The world health Organization estimates that approximately 3% of the world population is infected with hepatitis-C virus [HCV] and there are more than 170 million individuals with chronic HCV infection who are at risk of developing liver cirrhosis, decompensated liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma while in Pakistan according to a safe estimate, approximately 10 million people are infected with HCV. To observe the prevalence of HCV infection in our remote areas and to find out the possible causes for the spread of HCV infection, among the individual of Khairpur Nathan Shah and Shahdadkot. One day city based HCV screening program was conducted in the two cities i.e. Khairpur Nathan Shah and Shahdadkot. Cable and papers were used to invite subjects to come in for free HCV screening. The over all seropositivity among 406 subjects was 30.29%. The prevalence of HCV infection was higher in males [76.1% as compared to females [23.9%] and it was highest in subjects between 31-40 years of age [34.2%]. In this city based screening program, we found a high prevalence of HCV infection among the residents of Khairpur Nathan Shah and Shahdadkot. Broader based studies for HCV screening program are suggested in the remote areas of Pakistan