Seroprevalence of Hepatitis C virus in a hospital based general population in south India.

Seroprevalence of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) among hospital based general population was determined using a third generation ELISA. The study population comprised of 661 individuals (including 36 health care workers) attending a tertiary care hospital in Pondicherry, south India. The overall seroprevalence was found to be 4.8% (95% confidence interval [CI]=3.2-6.4%). The seroprevalence in males and females was 5.9% (95% CI=3.5-8.3%) and 3.3% (95% CI= 1.2-5.4%) respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the proportion of individuals who were positive in case of males and females (p>0.05). None of the health care workers tested positive for antibodies to HCV.