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Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 74(6), 2006, pp. 1117-1121
Copyright © 2006 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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SEROPREVALENCE AND RISK FACTORS FOR HEPATITIS C VIRUS INFECTION AMONG FEMALE COMMERCIAL SEX WORKERS IN SOUTH KOREA WHO ARE NOT INTRAVENOUS DRUG USERS

SUN-SEOG KWEON*, MIN-HO SHIN, HYEON-JE SONG, DOO-YOUNG JEON, AND JIN-SU CHOI
Department of Preventive Medicine, Seonam University College of Medicine, Namwon, Jeonbuk, South Korea; Microbiology Division, Jeollanam-do Institute of Health and Environment, Gwangju, South Korea; Department of Preventive Medicine, Chonnam National University College of Medicine, Chonnam National University Research Center of Medical Sciences, Gwangju, South Korea

Several previous studies have reported a high prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among commercial sex workers (CSWs), but the situation is often compounded by coexisting factors, such as intravenous drug use. We conducted a seroepidemiologic study of 1,527 female CSWs in South Korea. All participants tested negative for human immunodeficiency virus and were not illicit intravenous drug users (IDUs). Twenty-one participants (1.4%) were positive for antibodies to HCV. According to the multivariate logistic regression analysis, a history of acupuncture and diabetes mellitus were associated with the seroprevalence of HCV, whereas time spent as a CSW showed only borderline significance. Sexual activity was not an independent predictor of increased risk for HCV infection in female CSWs who had never been illicit IDUs.

Received November 2, 2005. Accepted for publication January 11, 2006.

Financial support: This work was supported by the Jeollanam-do Institute of Health and Environment and the Korean Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

* Address correspondence to Sun-Seog Kweon, Department of Preventive Medicine, Seonam University College of Medicine, 720, Gwanchi-dong, Namwon, Jeonbuk 590-711, South Korea. E-mail: sskweonx{at}netian.com

Authors’ addresses: Sun-Seog Kweon and Min-Ho Shin, Department of Preventive Medicine, Seonam University College of Medicine, 720, Gwanchi-dong, Namwon, Jeonbuk 590-711, South Korea, Telephone: 82-63-620-0373, Fax: 82-63-620-0375, E-mails: sskweonx{at}netian.com and mhshinx{at}orgio.net. Hyeon-Je Song and Doo-Young Jeon, Microbiology Division, Jeollanam-do Institute of Health and Environment, 291-1, Nongsung-dong, Gwangju 502-200, South Korea, Telephone: 82-62-360-5338, Fax: 82-62-366-7413, E-mails: songha1{at}dreamwiz.com and jeondy{at}hanmail.net. Jin-Su Choi, Department of Preventive Medicine, Chonnam National University College of Medicine, Chonnam National University Research Center of Medical Sciences, 5, Hak-dong, Dong-gu, Gwangju 501-746, South Korea, Telephone: 82-62-220-4172, Fax: 82-62-233-0305, E-mail: jschoix{at}chonnam.ac.kr.






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Copyright © 2006 by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.