Transmission of hepatitis C between spouses An Epidemiological Study at National Liver Institute hospital
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- Category: Vol. 82, June 2014
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Transmission of hepatitis C between spouses An Epidemiological Study at National Liver Institute hospital, Wesam S. Morad, Mohamed K. El-Sobky, Gaafar M. Abdel-Rasoul, Eman A. Rewisha, Olfat M. Hendy and Manal A. El-Batanony
Abstract
Background/Aims: In Egypt, relatively higher rates of sexual transmission have been reported and reflect the higher background prevalence in this country. In rural Egypt, sexual transmission between monogamous spouses ranged between 3 and 34%.
Methods: This is a cross sectional hospital based study evaluated the non-sexual and sexual risk factors of HCV infec-tion transmission from male and female index cases to their spouses. This study documented previously uncertained life-style risk factors for HCV transmission between spouses, con-firmed the high prevalence of HCV infection (17% to 26%) in Egypt which is higher than other parts of the world, and pro-vided evidence of sexual transmission of HCV (30).
Results: HCV transmission from wife to husband includ-ing sexual relationship occurred in 46% of cases while from husband to wife was 25% and 35.5% overall HCV transmission between spouses. Sexual intercourse of positive HCV female more than 4 times per month is 66 times risky to transmit HCV infection to her husband.
Conclusion: This study emphasize that transmission bet-ween spouses significantly occur due to sexual contact but we can’t ignore the significant role of non sexual risk factors of HCV transmission among married couples.