The prevalence of the hepatitis c virus in the western region of Libya

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a primary cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. It is associated with the development of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Several studies have shown that patients infected with HCV may show variance in their response to different antiviral therapies, which suggests that more information about HCV is very important to physicians to help them to improve their services to patients. The study aimed to survey the prevalence of HCV in western Libya. Material and Methods: A total of 216 blood samples were collected from patients referred to Zawia reference center laboratory, Surman hospital, and the Center of Blood Bank in Sabratha. Samples were detected as HCV-positive using ELISA test. Results: out of 216 patients ware 121 ware males (56%) and 95 ware females (44%). Their age ranged from 13 to 76 years, and they were distributed into four age groups, (1. 0-20 years, 2. 21-40 years, 3. 41-60 years, and 4. 60-80 years), thirteen of them were in the first group (6%), 86 in the second group (39.8%), 93 in the third group (43.1%), and 24 in fourth group (11.1%). All blood samples were subjected to ELISA test, and all of them were HCV positive. Conclusion: The HCV infections are mainly in the age range of 21 to 60 (about 82.9%), which are more subjected to risk factors since they are at the age of working. Furthermore, people older than 60 years represent only about 11.1%, which suggests that HCV infections were less common earlier. The data also showed that males and females are equally vulnerable to the infection.