Authors : A.Tanomand , H. Montazam and M. Kafshnochi
Abstract: One of the most substantial problems in public health is Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection, which affects approximately 1%-5% of the world�s population and occurs in all countries (170 million). In this resaerch 346 serum samples were tested for anti-HCV antibodies by using ELISA method by double check and analyzed information by SPSS version 14. Results showed the seroprevalence of anti-HCV antibodies was found to be 1.5% in the general population in Malekan city. The study included 165 male and 181 female, There was no significant difference in HCV prevalence between males and females (p- 0.17) and our study included 269 rural and 77 urban, There was no significant difference in HCV prevalence between rural and urban (p-0.5). The age-specific rates, which were similar in both sexes, indicated the lowest rate in 0-6 year�s group (0%) with a strong increase in the older (30-40 and 40< ) age group (6%). In our study the most of the subjects were rural (269 persons) ; unemployed (103 persons) and unlettered (250 persons). The seroprevalence of anti-HCV antibodies in our study was found to be higher than in other study in different parts of Iran. The high prevalence of HCV in our research may be due to some of Socioeconomic factors such as education, job and residents region (rural, urban, developing city and�). Therefore, socioeconomic factors such as educational rate, job and� had a significant correlation with the prevalence of anti-HCV.
A.Tanomand , H. Montazam and M. Kafshnochi , 2007. Seroepidemiology of Hepatitis C Antibody Between Rural and Urban People: A Retrospective Study in June to December of 2005 in Malekan City, Iran . Research Journal of Biological Sciences, 2: 561-563.