title: Seroprevalence of antibody against hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) in various groups of individuals in Korea.
abstract: We studied the prevalence of anti-HCV in 585 sera from various individuals, using enzyme immunoassay (EIA, Abbott Lab.). Anti-HCV was detected in 16 (10.7%) out of the 150 patients with HBsAg positive liver diseases diagnosed by liver biopsy and they consisted of none out of 10 acute viral hepatitis, 3 out of 15 chronic persistent hepatitis, 4 out of 50 chronic active hepatitis, 2 out of 32 liver cirrhosis, and 7 out of 43 hepatocellular carcinoma. Anti-HCV was detected in 43 (45.3%) out of 95 patients with HBsAg negative liver diseases diagnosed by liver biopsy and they consisted of 5 out of 8 acute viral hepatitis, 2 out of 10 chronic persistent hepatitis, 17 out of 30 chronic active hepatitis, 4 out of 15 liver cirrhosis, and 15 out of 32 hepatocellular carcinoma. Anti-HCV was detected in 22 (38.6%) out of 57 hemodialysis patients, in 3 (6.7%) out of 45 kidney transplants, in 2 (11.1%) out of 18 fatty liver diagnosed by liver biopsy, in 2 (1.3%) out of 150 healthy blood donors, in none out of 40 healthy volunteers, in 6 (31.6%) out of 19 rheumatoid arthritis and in 6 (54.5%) out of 11 systemic lupus erythematosis cases. There were familial clusters of chronic liver diseases in 4.7% of patients with HBsAg negative/anti-HCV positive chronic liver diseases, while in 19.4% of patients with HBsAg positive/anti-HCV negative liver diseases. Incidence of anti-HCV within patients with HBsAg positive liver diseases was higher in HBsAg negative patients than in HBsAg positive patients (17.6% and 10.3%, respectively).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital, Catholic University Medical College, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Y M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: I S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
chemical_list: D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies