title: [Prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in the general population of Madagascar].
abstract: The achievement of a sera collection representative for the general population > or = 1 year in 1994 allowed the assessment of the seroprevalence of Hepatitis C virus infection (HCV) in Antananarivo and Toamasina provinces which represent 45% of the total population of Madagascar. The overall sero-prevalence was 1.2% among the 921 tested sera. The prevalence was not significantly different according to sex, but it increased according to the age. The absence of positive children was an argument in consideration of the low importance of mother-to-infant transmission in the epidemiology of HCV. A significant relationship was observed with past history of blood transfusion. This point is a well established idea that reminds the interest of the detection of positive individuals for anti-HCV antibodies. The seroprevalence observed in our study could be considered as moderate. It is close to the values recorded in Europe or in Japan, and much lower than those observed in Equatorial Africa.
authors.affiliation: Unité de virologie, Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, Madagascar.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zeller
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rabarijaona
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rakoto-Andrianarivelo
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Boisier
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008270:Madagascar / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D065227:Transfusion Reaction