Medical Treatment A Major Factor For Female HCV In Equatorial Africa.(hepatitis C virus)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

2001 OCT 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) --

by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Blood transfusions and injections may be the major cause of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among female commercial sex workers and pregnant females in Equatorial Africa.

Even though human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) rates and HCV infections rates are high in both groups, the authors of an epidemiological study performed in Kinshasa can find no link between HCV infections and sexual transmission in either group of women.

Using blood samples, medical records, and sociodemographical data obtained from commercial sex workers (n=1144) and pregnant females (n=1092) during the late 1980s, members of a multicenter research team in Europe studied HCV prevalence and risk factors for infection among the women of Kinshasa.

The rate of HCV infection in commercial sex workers and pregnant females was 6.6% and 4.3%, respectively, according to C. Laurent, Laboratoire des Retrovirus, IRD, Montpellier, France.

Statistical analysis revealed risk factors for HCV infection among commercial sex workers included being older than 30 years, having had a previous blood transfusion, and carrying markers for at least one sexually transmitted disease ("Seroepidemiological survey of hepatitis C virus among commercial sex workers and pregnant women in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo," Infectious Disease, 2001;30(4):872-877).

Investigators did not investigate transfusion histories in the pregnant females, but similar associations, such as having had at least one sexually transmitted infection, were not seen as being associated with HCV infection in that group.