99 Academia Journal of Medicine ¦ Volume 2 ¦ Issue 2 ¦ July-December 2019 99 Evaluation of Incidence of Hepatitis C in Health Care Workers Sanjay Kumar 1 , Dharmendra Prasad 2 1 Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Govt. Medical College, Bettiah, 2 Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Govt. Medical College, Bettiah. Background: Hepatitis C virus infection continues to be a major public health problem warranting high priority efforts for control and treatment. Aim: An observational, cross-sectional facility-based study was conducted to measure the prevalence of HCV infection and to identify risk factors associated with HCV infection among health care workers. Subjects and Methods: A total of 109 participants were selected. It conducted through stratified random sampling. For the analysis, Z-test and Fisher’s exact test were used. All participants in this study were tested for HCV marker (Anti-HC). Results: The positive for Anti-HC was found to be 1.8% (2/109), which was found among nurses and paramedics. The results showed association between Anti-HC positivity and blood transfusion, frequency of blood transfusion and exposure to sharp injuries, P values ( 0.003, 0.0001 and 0.029) respectively. Conclusion: Prevalence rate of Anti-HC was found to be low in HCWs (1.8%). The prevalence rate was found among nurses and medical engineers. Blood transfusion, frequency of blood transfusion and exposures to sharp injuries to be risk factors with Anti-HC positivity. Keywords: HCV marker, Dialysis Centers (Units), health care workers, riskfactors, Khartoum State, Sudan. Corresponding Author: Dr. Dharmendra Prasad, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Govt. Medical College, Bettiah. Received: September 2019 Accepted: September 2019 Introduction Hepatitis C virus infection continues to be a major public health problem. WHO estimates that HCV infection has an estimated worldwide prevalence of more than 500 million cases. [1] Approximately, 170 million people worldwide are chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). [2] The health care workers (HCWs) are at risk of infection with blood borne pathogens through occupational exposure to blood and infectious body fluids. [3] Approximately 3 million percutaneous exposures to blood borne pathogens occur annually among 35 million HCWs worldwide. These injuries are estimated to result in 16,000 hepatitis C, 66,000 hepatitis B, and 200 to 5000 HIV infections. Over 90% of these infections are occurring in low-income countries, and most are preventable. [4] Low endemicity areas Include North America, Western Europe and Australia, where anti-HCV anti-bodies <1.5%. Areas with intermediate endemicity Include Mediterranean countries and Asia (Anti-HCV 1– 2%), while the highest endemicity has been detected in Africa, South- Eastern Asia and Latin America (Anti-HCV >2%). HCV infections are strongly associated with hepatocellular carcinoma, the prevalence of HCV was found to be 1.5% among the hepatocellular carcinoma patients in Sudan. [5] Seroprevalence rate of HCV among Sudanese in range (between 2.2% to 4.8%).6 In Omdurman-Sudan, a cross - sectional study was conducted showed the seroprevalence of HCV was zero (0.0%) HCWs. [7] Limited information regarding to HCV infection among North Indian health care workers for this reason we conducted this study aims to measure the prevalence of HCV infection and to identify risk factors associated with HCV infection among nurses and paramedics. Subjects and Methods The study was conducted at at government medical college, Bettiah. The study was approved by the institutional research committee. This study was observational, cross-sectional facility based study. A total of 109 health care workers participated in the study. Nurses and paramedics in direct or indirect contact with patients or with blood or other body fluids from patients in the hospital were included in the study. The study was explained to the participating subjects, and a written consent was taken. A pre-tested, pre-coded self administered questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic characteristics (age, sex, education, marital status, occupation and duration of the work), past medical history (blood transfusion, frequency of blood transfusion, surgical operation, exposure to needle stick, using shared razors and tattoos). Under sterilized condition about (5 ml) of venous blood was taken from each participant through venepuncture using a vacutainer device (blood collection containers) (EDTA container), the samples was stored upright in an ice box (vaccine carrier)/refrigerator. Then the sera were separated ISSN (0): 2663-8290; ISSN (P): 2663-8282