Turkish Journal of Gastroenterology, cilt.10, sa.3, ss.253-255, 1999 (Scopus)
The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalance of hepatitis-B and hepatitis-C infection in leprosy patients. Fourty-six patients comprising 15 (32.6%) women and 31 (67.3%) men with an age range of 20-75 years (mean of 53.8 years) were investigated. The average period of disease was 33.5±11.2 years. Hepatitis-B markers and anti-HCV antibodies were tested by Elisa method. We found anti-HCV positivity in 15.2%, HBsAg positivity in 10.8% and anti-Hbs positivity in 50% of patients. The 15.2% seropositivity of anti-HCV found in Leprosy patients was higher and seropositivities of anti-HBS and HBsAg, 50% and 10.8% were in accordance with the data in the literature. Whilst anti-HBs and HBsAg positivity levels were concurrent with available data, anti-HCV seropositivity at 15.2% was found to be higher than current data in the literature.