Declining prevalence of hepatitis C virus among university students in one of the main governorates in Egypt Yousry Esam-Eldin Abo-Amer,1 Sherief Abd-Elsalam,2 Hazim Eldosoky,3 Amira K ELShenawy,4 Shereen Awny,5 Waleed Elagawy,6 Mohamed El Abgeegy,6 Heba Fadl Elsergany,6 Heba Elashry,2 Manal Saad Negm5 1Hepatology, Gastroenterology and Infectious Diseases Department, Mahala Hepatology Teaching Hospital, Gharbia, Egypt; 2Tropical Medicine Department, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt; 3Clinical Pathology Department, Student Hospital, Menoufia University, Menoufia, Egypt; 4Public Health and Community Medicine Department, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt; 5Internal Medicine Department, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt; 6Tropical Medicine Department, National Hepatology and Tropical Medicine Research Institute in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt Background and aims: Egypt is considered to have the highest rate of hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence worldwide. However, HCV prevalence is currently declining due to the improvement of health education programs, improved environmental sanitation, and the introduction of novel treatment regimens. The aim of this work was to determine the HCV seroprevalence among Menoufia University students.Methods: The current study included 48,972 students from Menoufia University, Egypt. Blood sample was obtained from every patient for HCV seromarker testing. In anti-HCV-positive subjects, quantitative PCR for HCV RNA was done.Results: Overall, HCV antibody prevalence rate was 1%. This prevalence was higher in females (304/27,421; 1.1%) than in males (194/21,371; 0.9%). HCV-RNA PCR was positive in 355/48,972 (0.7%); the percentage of HCV PCR positive among the anti-HCV-positive was 71.3% (355/498 patients), with a higher prevalence among females than in males but without statistical significance. In addition, rural areas showed more prevalent HCV seroprevalence than urban areas.Conclusion: These prevalence rates for HCV infection are lower than that previously reported in the same age group denoting a new evidence for the reduction of prevalence and a hope for successful eradication of HCV in the forthcoming years. Keywords: HCV, prevalence, Egypt, students, Menoufia University, hepatitis C virus, infection, treatment, direct acting antiviral, DAA, eradication