title: [Hepatitis C in Venezuela. Preliminary report].
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Referencia en Inmunología Clínica, SAS-UCV.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Muller
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zabaleta
authors.forename: L H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Caldera
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bianco
authors.forename: I V
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Machado
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral
vernacular_title: Hepatitis C en Venezuela. Comunicación preliminar.