Egypt: Poor hygiene, ignorance blamed for prevalence of hepatitis C

The survey is being conducted by the National Committee for the Control and Prevention of Viral Hepatitis, a government body formed last year to tackle the disease. A similar survey in 1996 showed that 10-12 percent of the population had HCV, with 70,000-140,000 new infections each year, according to Manal Hamdy al-Sayed, Professor of Paediatrics at Cairo's Ain Shams University and a member of the Committee. Al-Sayed was part of a team which formulated an action plan to fight the disease and combat rising mortality.

Egypt has one of the highest HCV prevalence rates in the world. About one in every 10 persons has the virus, said al-Sayed.

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