Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a worldwide health burden. The infection is frequently asymptomatic, leaving many infected individuals unaware of the diagnosis until complications occur. HCV infection is a major health problem in Egypt. The beginning was iatrogenic, however, other routes of transmission led to continuation of the problem up till now. Both adults and children are affected by this disease. Routes of transmission and risk factors for this infection are well established. The current study aimed at screening of the University students for the presence of HCV antibodies and assess their knowledge about the disease.
Patients and methods: All participant students were subjected to ELISA HCV antibody test,
and a semi-structured questionnaire was used as a tool for data collection by personal interviewing after verbal consent, the design of which was based on the objectives of the study after a review of recent literature and similar questionnaires
Results:In this studyit was found that1% of the students were positive anti HCV. Regarding relation between risk factors and percentage of anti HCV among studied students, dental care, sharing utensils (medical or nom medical eg in barbershop) and blood transfusion were significant predictors of HCV infection (p < 0.05).With the decrease awareness about the disease between the student.
Conclusion: Prevalence of HCV among studied student is 1% with poor to fair knowledge about the disease.