RESUMO
This study included 52 cases with thalassemia and 25 age and sex matched children as control. For all cases, serum bilirubin, ALT, AST, HBsAg measurement and serological tests for detection of anti- HCV antibodies [ELISA and immunocomb] were done. PCR for the detecting of HCV-RNA was done for all cases. ALT and AST levels were high in cases than the control group. There was no significant relation between PCR positivity for HCV and high ALT, but was with significant relation for positive serological tests. There were no significant correlations between high AST and each of PCR positivity and positive serological tests. In the thalassemic group, PCR was positive in 46.1%, ELISA was positive in 73% and immunocomb was positive in 71.1%. In the control group, serological tests were positive for HCV with two children, all were PCR negative. The sensitivity and specificity of ELISA and immunocomb were 95.8%, 46.4% and 95.8%, 50.0%, respectively, compared with PCR test as a referral test. There were positive relations between PCR positivity and increasing age of the case and the male sex. It was concluded that HCV infection is high in thalassemic cases. Blood transfusion appears to be an important way for HCV infection. PCR is a sensitive and specific marker for HCV-RNA