Adequate Method of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) RNA Quantitation and Geographical Distribution of Subjects in Eastern Uttar Pradesh: Findings from a Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) have several important features, including worldwide distribution, hepatotropism, modes of transmission, ability to life threatening critical illness and is a growing public health issue worldwide.It's prevalence and mode of transmission varies greatly in different parts of the world.It is estimated that approximately one-fifth of the world population infected with HCV. Aim of the Study:This study was planned to know the prevalence, demographic and geographical distribution of HCV in eastern Uttar Pradesh, India.Material and Methods: An observational study was conducted in the department of Microbiology for 2 years from January 2023 to December 2024.Irrespective of age and sex, a non-duplicate blood samples were taken to detect HCV infection.All samples were tested for rapid HCV antibody test followed by viral load testing by using RT-PCR technique.Results were interpreted according to standard protocol.Results: Out of 1831 patient's samples, 1266 (69.14%) patients were from outpatient department (OPD) and 565 (30.86%) were from inpatient department (IPD).1053 (57.50%) were male patients and 778 (42.49%) were female patients.In study, most of the patients visited in MTC unit from Gorakhpur division (69.85%) of Uttar Pradesh followed by Basti (13%) division.Among positive cases, only 5.83% of cases has viral load less than 300 IU/ml. Conclusion:Hepatitis virus infection was highest in the age group 19-40 and lowest in the age group above <18 years.Hepatitis C was more in males as compared to females and more in OPD as compared to IPD.