title: Prevalence of anti-HCV among Chinese patients with acute and chronic liver disease.
abstract: To assess whether the hepatitis C virus plays an important role in Chinese patients with acute and chronic liver disease, antibodies to HCV (anti-HCV) were measured by enzyme immunoassay in 67 patients with type A and B acute viral hepatitis, 165 patients with non-A, non-B (NANB) hepatitis, 438 patients with chronic hepatitis, 200 patients with postnecrotic liver cirrhosis, 72 patients with alcoholic liver disease, 55 patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver, 24 patients with toxic and drug-induced hepatitis, and 20 patients with other chronic liver diseases. Anti-HCV was not detected in sera from patients with type A and B acute viral hepatitis, toxic and drug-induced hepatitis, primary biliary cirrhosis, Wilson's disease, or lupoid hepatitis. The anti-HCV prevalence was found to be highest in patients with NANB hepatitis (59% in sporadic and 73.2% in transfusion-associated), 16.4% in non-alcoholic fatty liver, 5.6% in alcoholic liver disease, 6.8% in chronic hepatitis, and 16% in postnecrotic liver cirrhosis. In patients with chronic hepatitis, the anti-HCV prevalence was significantly higher in HBsAg-negative (15/34, 44.1%) than in HBsAg-positive cases (15/404, 3.7%; P less than 0.0001). The results indicate that HCV is a major agent of NANB hepatitis and plays an important role in HBsAg-negative chronic liver disease in Taiwan.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Y J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: C Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Y S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Y T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Lo
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000276:immunology*; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
chemical_list: D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies