RESUMO
To determine the frequency of hepatitis-C virus infection in patients on maintenance haemodialysis in Nishtar Hospital Multan. Simple descriptive cross sectional. Thirty patients of maintenance haemodialysis for atleast six months twice daily haemodialysis were included. From April 2003 to March 2004. Thirty patients out of whom 20 were male and 10 were female. Patients between the age of 16 to 60 were included in the study. All the patients were on haemodialysis for more than six months and were receiving dialysis therapy twice week. Diagnosis of HCV infection was made by detection of HCV antibody with the help of kit. Name of the kit used was ACON hepatitis C Virus Rapid Test Strip [Serum]. This was a qualitative membrane based immunoassay for the detection of antibody to HCV in serum. Frequency of anti HCV among patients of maintenance haemodialysis was found to be 26.7% [8/30]. Role of different risk factors for the transmission of HCV during haemodialysis were quite conclusive. History of blood transfusion and duration of haemodialysis were the main factors in transmission of anti HCV to the patients of maintenance haemodialysis. The Frequency of anti HCV among patients on maintenance haemodialysis was 36.7%