Vaccines & Vaccination

Biography

Biography: Zakaria Benmansour

Abstract

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is a major cause of chronic liver disease all over the world. It was discovered in 1975 that most instances of transfusion-related hepatitis were not associated with hepatitis A or Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infections and hence named the condition non-A, non-B hepatitis. HCV infection has been linked to acute and chronic hepatitis, as well as liver cancer. In December 2019, the health authorities in the Chinese city of Wuhan, in the province of Hubei, announced the outbreak of a previously unknown acute pneumonia-like coronavirus infection, caused by SARS CoV-2. The commonest presentation included fever, cough, sore throat, fatigue/bodily pains, vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, shortness of breath. This study aimed to explore the prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and SARS CoV-2 (COVID-19) in suspected patients in Western Algeria. Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test was conducted for samples for both Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and SARS CoV-2 (COVID-19). The experiment was carried out in the central laboratory of the hospital establishment of the University of Oran over a period of 4 weeks (1 month) during which results were documented. At the end of the experiment, it was observed from results that majority of the patients (104/159) that tested for HCV tested positive, while majority (63/69) also tested negative for COVID-19. From the current study, it can be ascertained that COVID-19 is no longer prevalent in this day and age unlike it was when the virus initially broke.