Abstract
Aims and Methods : To clarify the difference of liver disease in Egypt and Japan, we analyzed fifty-seven patients with liver disease in Alexandria Armed Forces Hospital and compared with Japanese patients. All the patients were native Egyptian and already seen by another doctors in Egypt then introduced to us to obtain the second opinion. Results : Fifty-seven including 45 male and 12 female patients came to see us in the outpatient department of Alexandria Armed Forces Hospital. Mean age was 48.9 in male and 40.4 in female. Thirty-seven (82.2%) of male and 10 (83.3%) in female had anti-HCV. Fifteen of 45 male (33.3%) and 2 of 12 (16.7%) female had positive anti-Schistosomiasis antibody. All 17 patients having anti-Schistosomiasis had anti-HCV antibody including 10 Liver cirrhosis, 6 chronic hepatitis and one hepatocellular carcinoma. Mean age of patients of liver cirrhosis with co-infection with Schistosoma and HCV was 51.4 years old which is younger than those with Japan (62.5 years old, personal data). Ten anti-HCV-Ab negative patients included one Gilbert syndrome, 2 patients with autoimmune hepatitis, 3 with HBV carrier in which one patient recovered from hepatitis A and the other had fascioliasis co-infection, 2 of hepatitis A and one of each patient with liver cirrhosis and obstructive jaundice. Conclusion : Many Egyptian patients with liver disease were infected with both HCV and Schistosomiasis. Co-infection or previous infection of schistosomiasis could be a factor of progression of hepatitis C but the progression to hepatocellular carcinoma in the same situation was controversial.
