Purpose: The major cause of
chronic hepatitis is
infections with
hepatitis B virus and
hepatitis C virus (HCV) globally. However, there exists sparse epidemiological data regarding the
prevalence of HCV
infection from
India .
Methodology: We carried out a
cross-sectional study to estimate the
prevalence of anti-HCV antibody among acute febrile illness cases
aged between 1 and 65 years in Idar Taluk, Sabarkantha district, Gujarat
state located in West
India . A total of 702
serum samples collected from the study area during the year 2017, were screened for anti-
hepatitis C IgG by
enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay . The
serum samples screened positive were then subjected to
molecular testing for confirmation.
Results: Among the 702 study participants screened, 16 cases were reported to be anti-HCV
IgG positive with an estimated
seroprevalence rate of 2.3% (95%
confidence interval 1.4%–3.7%). Out of the 16 cases, two samples were confirmed positive by
molecular testing indicating active
infection . When analysed phylogenetically, one
strain was genotyped as HCV1b
genotype , and the other one was clustered along with HCV3a
genotype . Both the
patients with
hepatitis C infection were observed to be having a probable 1-year
survival rate of 100% and a 2-year
survival rate of 85% when the
Child -Turcotte-Pugh
classification was applied.
Conclusion: The estimated
seroprevalence of
hepatitis C in Idar Taluk, Sabarkantha district, west
India was 2.3%. HCV
genotypes 1b and 3a were observed to be circulating in the study area.