Frequency of viral hepatitis b and c infections in thalssemic childrens at tertiary care hospital

Introduction: Thalassemia is the most well known inherited issue of public health in Pakistan. It had evaluated that more than 4000 thalassemic youngsters conceived in Pakistan every year. Thalassemics are among the most commonly transfused children and in this way presented to transfusion related infections. Among these diseases, Hepatitis B and C are the most widely recognized. Objective: The aim of current study is to conclude frequency of Hepatitis B and C viral infection in thalassaemia major patients presenting to tertiary care hospital. Material and methods: Study design: Cross sectional study. Setting: Paediatric ward, PMCH Nawabshah Duration of study: From October 2016 to November 2017. Subjects and methods: One hundred and twenty nine subjects after fulfilling inclusion criteria were enrolled. Results: From 129 subjects, 82 (63.6%) male and 47 (36.4%) were female. Only 02 (1.6%) patients belong to high socioeconomic class, 52 (40.3%) to middle and 75 (58.1%) to low socioeconomic class. 126 (97.7%) muslim while only 03 (2.3%) were non- muslim patients. 5 (3.9%) subjects received blood transfusion every week, whereas greater part [124 (96.1%)] of thalasaemic subjects received blood transfusions once a month. Blood transfusion from hospital blood bank was observed in 25 (19.4%), from private blood banks in 17 (13.2%) and 87 (67.4%) had source of blood transfusion both from hospital as well as private blood banks. Majority of patients had exchanged blood transfusion [119 (92.2%)], while only 10 (7.8%) had blood transfusion from family donors. On analysis of frequency of viral hepatitis in study population it was observed that 05 (3.9%) [2 male, 3 female] had hepatitis B, 24 (18.6%) [19 male, 5 female] had Hepatitis C, 03 (2.3%) [1 male, 2 female] had both Hepatitis B & C (p=0.170). Conclusions: Children with thalassemia are at high risk to acquire hepatitis “B” and “C” virus infections due to repeated blood transfusions. These infections could be prevented if proper preventive measures taken before transfusions.