a detailed report on the specific area based percentage and diagnostic methods of hepatitis c in khyber pakhtunkhwa, pakistan

background: the prevalence of hepatitis c virus (hcv) varies tremendously in different parts of the world. this study reviews the percentage and molecular diagnosis of hepatitis c in the persons from khyber pakhtunkhwa, pakistan that visited to a particular laboratory.   methods : the method includes the diagnostic procedure steps by real time pcr. a total numbers of 1050 persons were screened during four months i.e. january-april, 2014. the collected data was evaluated for prevalence rate, age wise prevalence, gender wise prevalence and comparison of rt-pcr and ict. results : overall percentage was 64.85 which is an overestimation of a true prevalence because of the specific sampling method applied to current study. middle age persons were more affected. the percentage was higher in male (56.9) as compared to female (43.02). the rt-pcr diagnostic test was found to be more sensitive for the detection of hcv comparative to ict. conclusion : it is recommended that government should establish such laboratories equipped with rt-pcr for timely and accurate detection of hcv. moreover, awareness programs are required to decrease the burden of hcv in the pakistani population.