Hepatitis C Virus Prevalence among Patients with Beta Thalassemia Major in Iraq: A Systematic Review.

HCV in Thalassemia Major

Abstract

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection was characterised by its pandemicity. The disease was the most common post-transfusion infection. Global HCV prevalence varies regionally, and within countries. HCV infection was common in certain community settings including thalassemia. Objective: to determine HCV infection in subjects with beta thalassemia major in Iraq. Methods: The search includes Pubmed and Google Scholar data. The key words used for search are Hepatitis C, HCV, Hereditary blood diseases, Thalassemia, and Iraq.
Results: The search retrieved 23 studies, however, 5 studies were excluded because not fulfil the inclusion criteria. Fig.1 shows the flow diagram. Eighteen studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria which composed of 5451 patients with thalassemia were included in the systematic review. The year of data collection in the studies was between 2000 to 2020. The pooled HCV prevalence in beta thalassemia major was 20.49%.
Conclusion: The study indicated high HCV prevalence in beta thalassemia major in Iraqi community. Third generation ELISA test as screening test must be replaced by PCR and not restricted for positive ELISA as a confirmatory test. Relay on ELISA may not detect cases which was not seroconverted. National large-scale, well designed program that cover national and all governorates is warranted. Collaboration between medical colleges and regional health authorities is required and it was essential for national program success.