Skip to main content
PMC home page
Gut logoLink to Gut
. 1995 Jul;37(1):105–107. doi: 10.1136/gut.37.1.105

High prevalence of hepatitis C in Egyptian patients with chronic liver disease.

I A Waked 1, S M Saleh 1, M S Moustafa 1, A A Raouf 1, D L Thomas 1, G T Strickland 1
PMCID: PMC1382778  PMID: 7545630

Abstract

The highest prevalence rates of hepatitis C virus infection in the world have been recently reported among Egyptian blood donors and frequent recipients of transfusions and other blood products. This is the first report, however, demonstrating hepatitis C as the most frequent association with chronic liver disease in Egypt. Of 1023 patients referred to the Liver Institute in Menoufia governorate for evaluation of chronic liver disease, 752 (73.5%) had antibodies to hepatitis C compared with 168 (16.4%) with hepatitis B surface antigen. Hepatitis C antibody was more common in patients with active schistosomiasis and patients without hepatitis B surface antigenaemia. Of 100 patients having liver biopsies, histological findings consistent with chronic viral hepatitis or its complications were found in 89 and antibody to hepatitis C was present in 75 (84.3%) of these patients with chronic hepatitis, active cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma. These data pointing to the importance of hepatitis C as a cause of chronic liver disease in Egypt emphasise the necessity of studies delineating its routes of transmission in this country.

Full text

PDF
105

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Actor J. K., Shirai M., Kullberg M. C., Buller R. M., Sher A., Berzofsky J. A. Helminth infection results in decreased virus-specific CD8+ cytotoxic T-cell and Th1 cytokine responses as well as delayed virus clearance. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1993 Feb 1;90(3):948–952. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.3.948. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Alter H. J., Purcell R. H., Shih J. W., Melpolder J. C., Houghton M., Choo Q. L., Kuo G. Detection of antibody to hepatitis C virus in prospectively followed transfusion recipients with acute and chronic non-A, non-B hepatitis. N Engl J Med. 1989 Nov 30;321(22):1494–1500. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198911303212202. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Alter M. J., Margolis H. S., Krawczynski K., Judson F. N., Mares A., Alexander W. J., Hu P. Y., Miller J. K., Gerber M. A., Sampliner R. E. The natural history of community-acquired hepatitis C in the United States. The Sentinel Counties Chronic non-A, non-B Hepatitis Study Team. N Engl J Med. 1992 Dec 31;327(27):1899–1905. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199212313272702. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Darwish M. A., Raouf T. A., Rushdy P., Constantine N. T., Rao M. R., Edelman R. Risk factors associated with a high seroprevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in Egyptian blood donors. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1993 Oct;49(4):440–447. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.1993.49.440. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Eyster M. E., Alter H. J., Aledort L. M., Quan S., Hatzakis A., Goedert J. J. Heterosexual co-transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Ann Intern Med. 1991 Nov 15;115(10):764–768. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-115-10-764. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Fong T. L., Di Bisceglie A. M., Waggoner J. G., Banks S. M., Hoofnagle J. H. The significance of antibody to hepatitis C virus in patients with chronic hepatitis B. Hepatology. 1991 Jul;14(1):64–67. doi: 10.1002/hep.1840140111. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Ghaffar Y. A., Fattah S. A., Kamel M., Badr R. M., Mahomed F. F., Strickland G. T. The impact of endemic schistosomiasis on acute viral hepatitis. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1991 Dec;45(6):743–750. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.1991.45.743. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hibbs R. G., Corwin A. L., Hassan N. F., Kamel M., Darwish M., Edelman R., Constantine N. T., Rao M. R., Khalifa A. S., Mokhtar S. The epidemiology of antibody to hepatitis C in Egypt. J Infect Dis. 1993 Sep;168(3):789–790. doi: 10.1093/infdis/168.3.789. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kamel M. A., Ghaffar Y. A., Wasef M. A., Wright M., Clark L. C., Miller F. D. High HCV prevalence in Egyptian blood donors. Lancet. 1992 Aug 15;340(8816):427–427. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(92)91508-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Madwar M. A., el Tahawy M., Strickland G. T. The relationship between uncomplicated schistosomiasis and hepatitis B infection. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1989 Mar-Apr;83(2):233–236. doi: 10.1016/0035-9203(89)90657-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Novati R., Thiers V., Monforte A. D., Maisonneuve P., Principi N., Conti M., Lazzarin A., Brechot C. Mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis C virus detected by nested polymerase chain reaction. J Infect Dis. 1992 Apr;165(4):720–723. doi: 10.1093/infdis/165.4.720. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Saeed A. A., al-Admawi A. M., al-Rasheed A., Fairclough D., Bacchus R., Ring C., Garson J. Hepatitis C virus infection in Egyptian volunteer blood donors in Riyadh. Lancet. 1991 Aug 17;338(8764):459–460. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(91)91094-b. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Sheen I. S., Liaw Y. F., Chu C. M., Pao C. C. Role of hepatitis C virus infection in spontaneous hepatitis B surface antigen clearance during chronic hepatitis B virus infection. J Infect Dis. 1992 May;165(5):831–834. doi: 10.1093/infdis/165.5.831. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Simonetti R. G., Cammà C., Fiorello F., Cottone M., Rapicetta M., Marino L., Fiorentino G., Craxì A., Ciccaglione A., Giuseppetti R. Hepatitis C virus infection as a risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with cirrhosis. A case-control study. Ann Intern Med. 1992 Jan 15;116(2):97–102. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-116-2-97. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Yano M., Yatsuhashi H., Inoue O., Inokuchi K., Koga M. Epidemiology and long term prognosis of hepatitis C virus infection in Japan. Gut. 1993;34(2 Suppl):S13–S16. doi: 10.1136/gut.34.2_suppl.s13. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. el-Zayadi A., Selim O., Rafik M., el-Haddad S. Prevalence of hepatitis C virus among non-A, non-B-related chronic liver disease in Egypt. J Hepatol. 1992 Mar;14(2-3):416–417. doi: 10.1016/0168-8278(92)90203-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Gut are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES