This study was aimed to find out the prevalence of HCV infection and frequency of its genotypes in the
population of the Karol war village i.e. situated in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It was a descriptive crosssectional study model. Tests were performed in the Department of Bacteriology, Institute of Public
Health Lahore, Pakistan. Cases positive for Anti-HCV antibodies by chemiluminescence assay were
subjected to HCV RNA detection by PCR. Genotyping was done by Geno-Sen’s HCV Genotyping
1/2/3/4 Real Time PCR kit for Rotor Gene. A total of 396 patients were enrolled for this study. The
incidence of positive HBSAg and HCV cases were 11.86% and 1.5% respectively. Males were more
affected with 61.7% (n=29) while positive cases in females were 38.3% (n=18). Age group of 31-45
years had higher infection rate among other ages (n=20). The frequency of genotypes 3, 1 and 2 was
36, 4 and 3 respectively while the genotype of 4 patients was found to be indeterminate. Genotype 3 is
the most prevalent genotype in the studied individuals which corresponds to the local data available so
far however 11.86 % positivity figure is quite alarming figure for that area.
Bacterial biofilms are a complex community of microbes in which the cells are embedded in a polysaccharide matrix.
This slime is a mean of protection in hostile environments. Biofilms in hospital settings are perilous as they not only
make treatment difficult, cause blockage of pipes but are also cause of serious nosocomial infections thus making their
dispersal an even more important phenomenon. Any foaming method is not applicable at all places for the cleaning of
biofilms hence biofilm dispersal by household sweep containing hydrochloric acid was checked using the microliter
plate assay as dispersal strategy. Bacteria from hospital waste disposal pipes were isolated, its ability to form biofilm
was noted under different time intervals and then finally biofilm degradation was done using different concentrations
of household sweep. It was noted that household sweep can be successfully employed at many places especially waste
disposal pipes and acid resistant tubes. Our results indicated that 20% sweep (HCl conc. 1%) if used for only one
minute can reduce the biofilms to 50%. Similarly increasing contact time can reduce the biofilms further.