Abstract

Hepatitis C virus is known to be major public health issue around the globe. The aim was to investigate the treatment and detection of HCV infection in general population of District Mardan. Presently no standard treatment is available for the cure of Hepatitis C viral infection, attributed possibly to the hyper variations in HCV genome, expressing several distinct HCV genotypes. For a period of 5 months (June 2016 - November 2016), 270 suspected individuals visited the main hospital of Mardan Medical complex (MMC), were interviewed. Among them 100 individuals were diagnosed by ELISA and PCR for HCV detection at the diagnostic laboratory of MMC. A total of 170 HCV patients were treated at the MMC, with oral medicine or interferon vaccines and the response were monitored by PCR after treatments. Our result showed that high sensitivity for genome-based PCR detection of HCV in comparison to viral coat protein detection by ELISA. The assessment of treatment strategies for HCV showed high response for presently available medicines i.e., Sovaldi, Sofiget, Sofohil, Ocvir and sofosbuvir in comparison to interferon and pig interferon. The accurate and early diagnosis of the HCV infection is crucial for effective treatment strategies. Thereby PCR detection should be the proffered method for specific and accurate detection of HCV infection. The standard medicine available presently proved better treatment method for HCV infection in comparison to interferon vaccination.

Keywords: Vaccine, Medication, Sovaldi, Mardan, Interferon, Sofohil, HCV.