Prevalence of HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C in Pregnancy at Tertiary Care Center of Northeren India

Background & Objectives: Information on hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Human immunodeficiency virus in pregnant women in India is not much. This study was carried out to investigate the prevalence of HIV, HBV and HCV infection within an obstetric population in north India. Results: It was observed that 84 tested positive for HIV (0. 84%), 36 were positive for HBsAg (0.36%), 30 were positive for HCV (0.30%). The mean age and parity of these delivered patients was 22.50±8.8 yrs. Conclusion: With a prevalence of the HCV infection equivalent to elsewhere in the world but with no significantly associated risk factor, identification of HCV infection here poses a greater public health problem. In this situation, the modules based on selective screening for high risk factor analysis will fail to identify over half of the infected patients. Therefore, targeted screening is not appropriate and universal screening would present cost constraints especially in resource-poor countries. Further research is necessary to understand the causes and implications of this observation and to give future directions.