[Hepatitis C in Venezuela. Preliminary report].
Five hundred serum samples from volunteers blood donors were investigated in order to determine the presence of anti-HCV antibodies by an enzyme-linked immunoassay recently developed worldwide. Prevalence of true-positive samples was 1.2% (6/500), 2 fold higher than the reported prevalence in most of the industrialized countries. From these 6 sera, one (16.6%) showed simultaneous reactivity for HBV anticore antibody. Three sera (25%) from 12 patients with diagnosis of Non-A Non-B hepatitis were reactive for anti-HCV antibodies while in a group of 32 sera with negative HAV and HBV screening, 4 (12.5%) showed anti-HCV antibodies. Two samples out of 16 sera persistently positive for anticore demonstrated the presence of anti-HCV antibodies. The anti-HCV antibodies were undetectable in two cases of autoimmune chronic hepatitis. Our results indicate that in Venezuela, HCV represents a significant problem of public health coexisting in certain cases with HBV infection.
Muller
G
G
Centro Nacional de Referencia en Inmunología Clínica, SAS-UCV.
Zabaleta
M
M
Caldera
L H
LH
Bianco
N
N
Machado
I V
IV
D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001782:Blood Donors; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000276:immunology; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D014687:Venezuela / Q000453:epidemiology
D000914:Antibodies, Viral
Hepatitis C en Venezuela. Comunicación preliminar.