RESUMO
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: The epidemiology of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been partially described for at risk groups in urban communities in Nigeria. On the other hand, literature on the possible spread of the virus in rural Nigeria remains extremely scanty. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of HCV in a rural and urban community in Nigeria. METHODS: Four hundred and twenty four (n = 424) plasma samples belonging to 238 rural inhabitants and 186 urban dwellers in North Central Nigeria were tested for anti-HCV markers using a third generation quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) that uses recombinant proteins and synthetic peptides derived from core and non-structural regions. RESULTS: 29(12.2%, CI = 0.17-0.86) of the rural samples and 5(2.7%, CI = 0.01-0.06) of urban samples were positive for HCV infection. The highest number of infections was in the 21-40 years age category. Our preliminary findings indicates that the number of HCV infection in rural was higher (p = 0.03) when compared with urban settings in Nigeria. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest a higher prevalence of HCV infection in rural than urban Nigeria in the region studied and possibly in Nigeria as a whole. HCV transmission is active in rural Nigeria and large scale studies to understand the dynamics of the infection are required so as to plan targeted preventive measures.