Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Isfahan, Iran: A Review Article

Context: The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a serious worldwide health problem. The HCV infection prevalence rate has been estimated to be approximately 0.16% in the general Iranian population. In this review, the authors summarize various epidemiological studies of HCV infection in Isfahan, Iran.
Evidence Acquisition: Published studies were accessed from PubMed, Ovid, EMbase, Google Scholar, Iranmedex, Magiran, and the Scientific Information Database (SID), as well as from a manual search using references cited in relevant papers.
Twenty-eight studies, including 6, 17, 4, and 1, reported a prevalence of HCV in Isfahan province, and Isfahan, Kashan, and Foulad shahr cities. Sample sizes ranged from 73 to 542,705. The highest prevalence of HCV infection was reported in HIV-infected patients, and the lowest prevalence was found in laboratory workers.
The results of this study revealed the important role injection drug use plays as the main cause of HCV spread in Isfahan province. Effective harm reduction programs should be implemented to prevent new HCV infections. Considering the high prevalence of HCV infection among HIV patients, this group should receive special attention.