Pavithra Saikumar
University of the Pacific, San Francis, USA
Title: Epidemiology of Hepatitis C virus in Chennai, South India during the year 2014
Biography
Biography: Pavithra Saikumar
Abstract
Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is known to cause serious complications such as chronic liver cirrhosis, liver failure and hepatocellular carcinoma. Globally 3% of the population is affected by HCV infection. Tamil Nadu, a southern state of India; accounts for 0.5% of this disease. The present study aims at analyzing the prevalence of HCV infection in different age groups in the population of Tamil Nadu. The samples were received and collected from primary health care, private and government hospitals. A total of 751 HCV susceptible samples were screened for anti-HCV antibodies by ELISA. Among the 751 samples, 41 samples were positive, which was further confirmed by polymerase chain reaction. Our study revealed that pediatric age groups 1-5 and 6-12 were predominantly affected by HCV, with high incidence among males. The statistical analysis student t-test was performed and the distribution was significant across groups. In addition, other epidemiological parameters were also analyzed as a part of this study.