risk factors for hepatitis c virus transmission obscure in nigerian patients丙型肝炎病毒传播的风险因素模糊在尼日利亚的病人.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Gastroenterology Research and Practice Volume 2011, Article ID 939673, 4 pages doi:10.1155/2011/939673 Clinical Study Risk Factors for Hepatitis C Virus Transmission Obscure in Nigerian Patients Olive Obienu,1 Sylvester Nwokediuko,1 Abraham Malu,2 and Olufunmilayo A. Lesi3 1 Gastroenterology Unit, Department of Medicine, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku/Ozalla, PMB 01129 Enugu, Nigeria 2 Department of Medicine, Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Nigeria 3 Department of Medicine, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria Correspondence should be addressed to Sylvester Nwokediuko, scnwokediuko@ Received 21 March 2011; Accepted 23 May 2011 Academic Editor: Simon P. Horslen Copyright © 2011 Olive Obienu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Aim . To determine the prevalence of anti-HCV and risk factors associated with HCV infection in Nigerians. Materials and Method. Patients attending a general outpatient clinic were administered a structured questionnaire on the risk factors for HCV infection. They were also tested for anti-HCV using a third generation enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Result. The seroprevalence of anti-HCV was 4.7%. Among the risk factors evaluated, none was found to be significantly associated with anti-HCV seropositivity. Conclusion. The risk factors associated with HCV infection in Nigerian patients are obscure. This warrants further studies on the epidemiology of this important cause of liver disease. 1. Introduction serum-derived fluids (e.g., birth to an infected