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      The Epidemiology of Hepatitis C Virus in the Fertile Crescent: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

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      1 , * , 1 , 2 , 1 , 2
      PLoS ONE
      Public Library of Science

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          Abstract

          Objective

          To characterize hepatitis C virus (HCV) epidemiology in countries of the Fertile Crescent region of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), namely Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria.

          Methods

          We systematically reviewed and synthesized available records of HCV incidence and prevalence following PRISMA guidelines. Meta-analyses were implemented using a DerSimonian-Laird random effects model with inverse weighting to estimate the country-specific HCV prevalence among the various at risk population groups.

          Results

          We identified eight HCV incidence and 240 HCV prevalence measures in the Fertile Crescent. HCV sero-conversion risk among hemodialysis patients was 9.2% in Jordan and 40.3% in Iraq, and ranged between 0% and 3.5% among other populations in Iraq over different follow-up times. Our meta-analyses estimated HCV prevalence among the general population at 0.2% in Iraq (range: 0–7.2%; 95% CI: 0.1–0.3%), 0.3% in Jordan (range: 0–2.0%; 95% CI: 0.1–0.5%), 0.2% in Lebanon (range: 0–3.4%; 95% CI: 0.1–0.3%), 0.2% in Palestine (range: 0–9.0%; 95% CI: 0.2–0.3%), and 0.4% in Syria (range: 0.3–0.9%; 95% CI: 0.4–0.5%). Among populations at high risk, HCV prevalence was estimated at 19.5% in Iraq (range: 0–67.3%; 95% CI: 14.9–24.5%), 37.0% in Jordan (range: 21–59.5%; 95% CI: 29.3–45.0%), 14.5% in Lebanon (range: 0–52.8%; 95% CI: 5.6–26.5%), and 47.4% in Syria (range: 21.0–75.0%; 95% CI: 32.5–62.5%). Genotypes 4 and 1 appear to be the dominant circulating strains.

          Conclusions

          HCV prevalence in the population at large appears to be below 1%, lower than that in other MENA sub-regions, and tending towards the lower end of the global range. However, there is evidence for ongoing HCV transmission within medical facilities and among people who inject drugs (PWID). Migration dynamics appear to have played a role in determining the circulating genotypes. HCV prevention efforts should be targeted, and focus on infection control in clinical settings and harm reduction among PWID.

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          Most cited references78

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          Global epidemiology of hepatitis C virus infection: new estimates of age-specific antibody to HCV seroprevalence.

          In efforts to inform public health decision makers, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors 2010 (GBD2010) Study aims to estimate the burden of disease using available parameters. This study was conducted to collect and analyze available prevalence data to be used for estimating the hepatitis C virus (HCV) burden of disease. In this systematic review, antibody to HCV (anti-HCV) seroprevalence data from 232 articles were pooled to estimate age-specific seroprevalence curves in 1990 and 2005, and to produce age-standardized prevalence estimates for each of 21 GBD regions using a model-based meta-analysis. This review finds that globally the prevalence and number of people with anti-HCV has increased from 2.3% (95% uncertainty interval [UI]: 2.1%-2.5%) to 2.8% (95% UI: 2.6%-3.1%) and >122 million to >185 million between 1990 and 2005. Central and East Asia and North Africa/Middle East are estimated to have high prevalence (>3.5%); South and Southeast Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, Andean, Central, and Southern Latin America, Caribbean, Oceania, Australasia, and Central, Eastern, and Western Europe have moderate prevalence (1.5%-3.5%); whereas Asia Pacific, Tropical Latin America, and North America have low prevalence (<1.5%). The high prevalence of global HCV infection necessitates renewed efforts in primary prevention, including vaccine development, as well as new approaches to secondary and tertiary prevention to reduce the burden of chronic liver disease and to improve survival for those who already have evidence of liver disease. Copyright © 2012 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.
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            Isolation of a cDNA clone derived from a blood-borne non-A, non-B viral hepatitis genome.

            A random-primed complementary DNA library was constructed from plasma containing the uncharacterized non-A, non-B hepatitis (NANBH) agent and screened with serum from a patient diagnosed with NANBH. A complementary DNA clone was isolated that was shown to encode an antigen associated specifically with NANBH infections. This clone is not derived from host DNA but from an RNA molecule present in NANBH infections that consists of at least 10,000 nucleotides and that is positive-stranded with respect to the encoded NANBH antigen. These data indicate that this clone is derived from the genome of the NANBH agent and are consistent with the agent being similar to the togaviridae or flaviviridae. This molecular approach should be of great value in the isolation and characterization of other unidentified infectious agents.
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              The prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in the United States, 1999 through 2002.

              Defining the primary characteristics of persons infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) enables physicians to more easily identify persons who are most likely to benefit from testing for the disease. To describe the HCV-infected population in the United States. Nationally representative household survey. U.S. civilian, noninstitutionalized population. 15,079 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1999 and 2002. All participants provided medical histories, and those who were 20 to 59 years of age provided histories of drug use and sexual practices. Participants were tested for antibodies to HCV (anti-HCV) and HCV RNA, and their serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels were measured. The prevalence of anti-HCV in the United States was 1.6% (95% CI, 1.3% to 1.9%), equating to an estimated 4.1 million (CI, 3.4 million to 4.9 million) anti-HCV-positive persons nationwide; 1.3% or 3.2 million (CI, 2.7 million to 3.9 million) persons had chronic HCV infection. Peak prevalence of anti-HCV (4.3%) was observed among persons 40 to 49 years of age. A total of 48.4% of anti-HCV-positive persons between 20 and 59 years of age reported a history of injection drug use, the strongest risk factor for HCV infection. Of all persons reporting such a history, 83.3% had not used injection drugs for at least 1 year before the survey. Other significant risk factors included 20 or more lifetime sex partners and blood transfusion before 1992. Abnormal serum ALT levels were found in 58.7% of HCV RNA-positive persons. Three characteristics (abnormal serum ALT level, any history of injection drug use, and history of blood transfusion before 1992) identified 85.1% of HCV RNA-positive participants between 20 and 59 years of age. Incarcerated and homeless persons were not included in the survey. Many Americans are infected with HCV. Most were born between 1945 and 1964 and can be identified with current screening criteria. History of injection drug use is the strongest risk factor for infection.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Role: Editor
                Journal
                PLoS One
                PLoS ONE
                plos
                plosone
                PLoS ONE
                Public Library of Science (San Francisco, CA USA )
                1932-6203
                21 August 2015
                2015
                : 10
                : 8
                : e0135281
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Infectious Disease Epidemiology Group, Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, Cornell University, Qatar Foundation, Education City, Doha, Qatar
                [2 ]Department of Healthcare Policy & Research, Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University, New York, New York, United States of America
                National Institute of Health, ITALY
                Author notes

                Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

                Conceived and designed the experiments: LJA-R. Analyzed the data: HC KC. Wrote the paper: HC LJA-R.

                Article
                PONE-D-15-20343
                10.1371/journal.pone.0135281
                4546629
                26296200
                43869f4e-56a5-4fd6-b70d-8d48211cebbd
                Copyright @ 2015

                This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

                History
                : 11 May 2015
                : 20 July 2015
                Page count
                Figures: 1, Tables: 5, Pages: 30
                Funding
                This publication was made possible by NPRP grant number 4-924-3-251 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation), url: http://www.qnrf.org/en-us/. Additional support was provided by the Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Biomathematics Research Core at the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, url: http://qatar-weill.cornell.edu/research/laboratories/biostatistics.html. The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors. The funders had no role in the design, conduct, or analysis of the study.
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