Abstract

 Background and Objectives

 Patients with major b -thalassaemia have a potential risk for infection cause of hypertransfusion and today one of the most improtant health problems in these patients is prevention and control of these viruses. In this study, we determined prevalence of hepatitis B and C and risk factors in a group of patients with major b -thalassaemia

 Materials and Methods

 This descriptive study was performed in Zahedan city in 1381 on 364 patients with major
b -thalassaemia. At first, a questionnaire containing some questions about demographic characteristics was filled for all patient, including: age, sex, frequency of blood transfusion in year, time of diagnosis, history of vaccination, then blood samples of patients were tested to detect serum markers including HBsAg, Anti-HBc, Anti-HCV, Anti-HBs with Eliza method. Positive EIA results of HBsAg and Anti-HCV were confirmed respectively with neutralization test and RIBA.

 By using SPSS 10/10 software we analyzed our data the results were also analyzed by
Chi-square.

 Results

 We studied 364 patients with major b -thalassaemia, 206 (56.6%) were male and 158 (43.4%) female. Average of patients age was 9.7 ± 5.17. 205 (56.3%) patients were Balooch. Out of them one case was HBsAg positive and 49 cases were Anti-HCV positive, therefore, prevalence of HBsAg and Anti-HCV positive were respectively 0.3% and 13.5%. 321 cases (88.2%) were Anti-HBs positive and 88 (24.2%) were Anti-HBc positive.

 Statistical analysis showed that HCV infection was more prevalent among older patients.

 Prevalence of Anti-HCV positive test in hypertransfusion patients (>20 times) was more (33.3%) compared with other age groups (<15%) (P=0.006).

 Conclusions

 Our results showed that prevalence of hepatitis C in patients with major b -thalassaemia in Zahedan is very high, but it seems screening of blood donor effectively decreases prevalence and incidence of infection.

 Key words: Major b -thalassaemia, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C