Hepatitis C Infection Among Schistosomal and Non-Schistosomal School Children in Shobrakheet, Beheira Governorate

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus infection is a global health problem. Recently, HCV infection was concluded to be the main cause of chronic liver diseases in Egypt, where this infection is largely associated with schistosomiasis, which has been claimed to be an important risk factor for HCV infection. However, the type of relationship between HCV infection and schistosomiasis has been the subject of much controversy. The present study was conducted in order to: I- Estimate HCV seropositivity rate among school children aged 6-15 years. 2- Investigate the association between HCV and schistosomiasis among the studied groups. 3- Study the different demographic (Age, Sex, ' ), socioeconomic (education, occupation, ......) and other factors that may affect such association. Out of 800 school children aged 6-15 years old who were screened for the presence of Schistosoma mansoni eggs in stool using the modified Kato Katz thick foecal smear technique, 100 of the Schistosoma mansoni