ABSTRACT
Hepatitis C virus is considered to be the main aetiological agent responsible for the occurrence of post-transfusion hepatitis. Patients with thalassaemia acquire hepatitis most often from viruses contracted through blood transfusions. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in thalassaemic patients with multiple blood transfusions. The association of HCV seropositivity with number of blood transfusions and liver enzyme profile was also analysed. The study group consisted of fifty patients (40 males and 10 females) attending the thalassaemic unit of Lok Nayak Hospital, a tertiary care hospital at Delhi, within the age group of 1-25 years. Thirty patients (60%) were found to be seropositive for HCV antibodies while one patient (2%) was co-infected with HCV antibodies and hepatitis B surface antigen. Study of liver enzyme profile showed aspartate aminotransferase levels to be significantly higher, although the level of serum alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, total protein, bilirubin and albumin were not significantly altered in these patients. It is inferred from this study that 60% of the thalassaemics were infected with HCV and this was directly related to the number of blood transfusions received by them. The regularised national blood policy followed by blood banks for providing safe blood along with better screening method of donated blood in blood banks would bring down the incidence of hepatitis C in such high risk group.