title: Hepatitis C virus infection in haemodialysis patients.
abstract: Antibody to hepatitis C has been variously detected in 1-20% of haemodialysis patients in recent studies from overseas. To determine the frequency of antibodies to the C100-3 protein of the hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) a cross-sectional study was performed in 60 patients on maintenance haemodialysis in Western Sydney. Six patients (10%) were anti-HCV seropositive. Four of the six anti-HCV positive patients were also hepatitis B core antibody positive, compared with nine of 54 anti-HCV negative patients (p less than 0.05). All anti-HCV positive patients had received multiple blood transfusions. Serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) was not useful as a screening test. Recent evidence suggests that anti-HCV seropositivity underestimates infectivity.
authors.affiliation: Renal Unit, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Roger
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Crewe
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Harris
mesh_terms: D000956:Antigens, Viral; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000276:immunology*; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000382:microbiology / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral; C064544:C100 protein, hepatitis C virus; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins