A serological study of hepatitis C infection in plasmapheresis donors.
An epidemic of parenterally transmitted non-A, non-B hepatitis (PT-NANBH) occurred in plasmapheresis donors in Guan County, Hebei Province, China, in 1985. PT-NANBH was diagnosed by epidemiological studies and serological exclusion of HAV, HBV, CMV and EBV infections. Recently, 163 sera samples of 108 patients with PT-NANBH and 65 sera samples of 49 cases with elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels collected during the epidemic were tested by anti-HCV EIA (Chiron C100). The positive rates of anti-HCV in these two groups were 89.8% (97/108) and 93.9% (46/49), averaging 90.8%. The figures increased with the course of illness and persistance of ALT elevation, i.e., 17.6% and 55.6% within 1 month, 88.9% and 87.5% at 6 months and 100% and 100% after 2 years. Five patients with PT-NANBH and 1 with elevated ALT levels were followed up for 3 to 4 years. We demonstrated that anti-HCV remained positive after the disease had resolved and ALT levels had normalized.
Meng
Z D
ZD
Hebei Health and Anti-epidemic Station, Baoding.
Sun
Y D
YD
Chen
X R
XR
Wang
S Y
SY
Sun
D G
DG
Chen
Z
Z
Liu
C B
CB
Zhuang
H
H
Xu
Z Y
ZY
D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D001782:Blood Donors; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000276:immunology; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D010956:Plasmapheresis; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies; D000410:Alanine Transaminase