ANTI-HCV SEROPREVALENCE AND RISK-FACTORS OF HEPATITIS-C VIRUS-INFECTION IN MOROCCAN POPULATION GROUPS

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) seroprevalence and transmission routes were in vestigated in several groups of the Moroccan population. This study sh owed a low HCV seroprevalence in the Moroccan general population. Howe ver, haemodialysis patients and haemophiliacs were at higher risk of h aving HCV infection, since the prevalences were, respectively, 35.1 an d 42.4% in comparison with the blood donors' prevalence (1.1%). These results indicated that parenteral exposure is the transmission pathway of HCV. To investigate the possibility of vertical HCV transmission, a cohort of healthy, unselected pregnant women were included in the st udy. A prevalence of 1% was found among them, Seven newborns were anti -HCV-positive, although, when RT-PCR was used to search for HCV RNA in their sera, none of them was viraemic. These data indicated that anti -HCV antibodies were passively acquired in these cases. We concluded t hat vertical transmission is absent when mothers are at low risk of co ntracting other parenterally or sexually transmitted diseases. Three p ercent of a group of patients of a centre for sexually transmitted dis eases were repeatedly anti-HCV-positive, suggesting the possible sexua l transmission of HCV. When screening 116 sera of anti-HIV-positive su bjects, 19.8% were anti-HCV-positive. Furthermore, 17.9% of the sixty- seven patients who were proven to have sexually contracted HIV were al so anti-HCV-positive. These data might reflect a likely cotransmission of these two viruses, hence suggesting HIV is a cofacter for HCV sexu al transmission, as previously reported.