Regular blood transfusions for patients with thalassemia major have improved their
overall survival, but carry a definite risk of being infected with blood born viruses
especially hepatitis B and C. Now a days,it has remained as main health concern about
these patients. In this study we tried to define the prevalence rate of hepatitis B and C
and survey the related risk factors among a group of thalassemic patients in
Ghazvin-Iran. We followed up all of thalassemics in Ghazvin, Iran(103 cases) and could
access to 96 patients who were enrolled. The initial data were recorded and the sera
were tested for HBV seromarkers, anti-HCV Ab and anti- HIV Ab using ELISA second
generation and confirmed by RIBA second generation. Then samples were tested to
measure hemoglobin and serum ferritin levels. 23 patients (24.2%) were anti-HCV Ab
positive. One patient (1.1%) was HBs Ag positive and there was no anti-HIV positive
case. Patients age, and transfusion duration were significantly higher in anti-HCV
seropositive patients (P=0.01, P=0.03 repectively). Furthermore, HCV prevalence rate
has significantly d(opped after applying anti-HCV Ab screening in blood donors (33.3%
vs. 0%, P=0.002), and there was no new infected case thereafter. There were no
significant associations between anti-HCV Ab seropositivity and history of splenectomy,
vaccination against HBV, Patient and family history of hepatitis, and transfusion
intervals. The mean of hemoglobin did not differ between two groups, but anti-HCV Ab
positive patients had higher serum ferritin compared with anti-HCV negative patients
(P=0.007). Hepatitis C Prevalence rate is very high among thalassemics. Screening of
blood donors seems to be able to decrease prevalence and incidence rate of HCY
infection effectively. Furthermore, serum ferritin level seems to play a significant and
independent role on liver injury in thalassemic patients.