Prevalence of HCV, genotypic subtypes and HCV-HIV co-infection in various broad subgroups of the Kenyan population

Abstract

Objective: To determine the seroprevalence and genotypes of HCV infection and prevalence of HIV co-infection among various broad subgroups of the Kenyan population. Study Design and Setting: This was a prospective cross-sectional descriptive study, done at KNH, a tertiary referral and teaching hospital, inpatient and outpatient departments and the National Blood Transfusion Services Center, Nairobi. Subjects: 1. Volunteer blood donors 2. Hospital staff, KNH 3. HIV/AIDS and HIV negative in-patients at KNHmedical wards 4. VCTAttendants Methods: After recruitment, the above subjects were assessed for risk factors for HCV/HIV transmission through a questionnaire. Blood for determination of HCVseropositivitiy and genotypes was obtained. Results: The prevalence of HCV/HIV co-infection among 6154 blood donors in the NBTSCwas very low, at <0.02%. The prevalence of HCV infection among 977 KNH staff was 3.6%. Among 458 HIV/AIDS medical in-patients, the prevalence of HCV was 3.7% while in the 518 HIV negative patients, it was 4.4%. The prevalence of co-infection with HCV and HIV was 3.7%. The HIV prevalence among the 353 KNH HIV-VCT attendees was 9.3%, none of the clients tested positive for HCV.The genotypes for 5 patients was done; all were genotype 4. The incidence of risk factors in the persons with HCV and/or HIV infection(s) was low.