Spatial Analysis of Hepatitis C Epidemiology in Faisalabad District

Hepatitis C, caused by the Hepatitis C virus (HCV), is an infectious disease affecting mostly the liver. The infection is often without symptoms. However, long lasting infection can lead to scarring of the liver. HCV is spreading mostly by blood-to-blood contact, drug use, poorly sterilized medical equipment and transfusions. The disease is becoming a major health problem for developing countries including Pakistan. World Health Organization rated Pakistan as second country in the world having high rates of chronic liver infections. About 8.6 million Pakistanis are affected with Hepatitis C. Spatial epidemiology is a discipline to understand the relationship between disease risk and exposures of interest. In this study the incidence data on Hepatitis C collected from the Allied Hospital Faisalabad over the period 2010-2012 were analyzed and the spatial dependency of the Hepatitis C risk was explored using spatial statistics besides risks were used to create surface maps of Faisalabad over the period 2010-2012 to identify areas at high risk in the Faisalabad city. It has been found that more than half of the rural population of Faisalabad city is suffering from Hepatitis C.