Interspousal transmission of hepatitis C virus.

Objective: To estimate the sero-prevalence of anti-HCV among the spouses of HCV positive patients. Design: A cross-sectional survey. Place and Duration of Study: Shifa International Hospital Islamabad from January 2001 to January 2004. Patients and Methods: Spouses of patients of hepatitis C were studied. Spouses of patients who had hepatitis C by the presence of anti-HCV and HCV RNA (PCR) were tested for anti-HCV by ELISA method. Results: A total of 347 consecutive patients were included in the study. Fifty-three patients were single 48 were widows or divorced and 19 individuals refused to be tested. Thus 227 patients were available for anti-HCV testing. Out of these 227 spouses tested 10 (4.4%) were found to be positive for anti-HCV. The mean age of HCV-positive spouses was 44.2 ± 8.31 years while that of HCV-negative spouses was 46.37 ± 11.31 years (p = 0.55). The mean years of marriage of HCV positive spouses was 20.1 ± 9.79 years as compared to 21.1 ± 9.96 years for HCV–negative spouses (p = 0.75). The male proportion of HCV-positive spouses was 60% as compared to 57.6% for HCV-negative spouses (p = 0.9). The patients and spouses had common risk factor of history of injections. Conclusion: A positive anti-HCV was found in 4.4 % spouses and common risk factors of history of injection and transfusion were noted in the patients and spouses. (authors)