title: A systematic review of hepatitis C virus epidemiology in Asia, Australia and Egypt.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The hepatitis C pandemic has been systematically studied and characterized in North America and Europe, but this important public health problem has not received equivalent attention in other regions.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this systematic review was to characterize hepatitis C virus (HCV) epidemiology in selected countries of Asia, Australia and Egypt, i.e. in a geographical area inhabited by over 40% of the global population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data references were identified through indexed journals and non-indexed sources. In this work, 7770 articles were reviewed and 690 were selected based on their relevance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We estimated that 49.3-64.0 million adults in Asia, Australia and Egypt are anti-HCV positive. China alone has more HCV infections than all of Europe or the Americas. While most countries had prevalence rates from 1 to 2% we documented several with relatively high prevalence rates, including Egypt (15%), Pakistan (4.7%) and Taiwan (4.4%). Nosocomial infection, blood transfusion (before screening) and injection drug use were identified as common risk factors in the region. Genotype 1 was common in Australia, China, Taiwan and other countries in North Asia, while genotype 6 was found in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries. In India and Pakistan genotype 3 was predominant, while genotype 4 was found in Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We recommend implementation of surveillance systems to guide effective public health policy that may lead to the eventual curtailment of the spread of this pandemic infection.
authors.affiliation: Monash Medical Centre and Monash University, Melbourne, Vic., Australia.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sievert
authors.forename: Ibrahim
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Altraif
authors.forename: Homie A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Razavi
authors.forename: Ayman
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abdo
authors.forename: Ezzat Ali
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alomair
authors.forename: Deepak
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Amarapurkar
authors.forename: Chien-Hung
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xiaoguang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Dou
authors.forename: Hisham
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: El Khayat
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Elshazly
authors.forename: Gamal
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Esmat
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.forename: Kwang-Hyub
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koike
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Largen
authors.forename: Geoff
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: McCaughan
authors.forename: Sherif
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mogawer
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Monis
authors.forename: Arif
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nawaz
authors.forename: Teerha
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Piratvisuth
authors.forename: Faisal M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Sanai
authors.forename: Ala I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Sharara
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sibbel
authors.forename: Ajit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sood
authors.forename: Dong Jin
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Suh
authors.forename: Carolyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wallace
authors.forename: Kendra
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Negro
mesh_terms: D001208:Asia / Q000453:epidemiology; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D005838:Genotype; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D058873:Pandemics; D015995:Prevalence; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors