Hepatitis C viral markers in patients who received blood that was positive for hepatitis C virus core antibody, with genetic evidence of hepatitis C virus transmission.
BACKGROUND
Despite the use of the anti-c100-3 assay for blood donor screening, posttransfusion non-A,non-B hepatitis still occurred. A more sensitive assay should be developed to prevent this.


METHODS
Stored serum specimens from 2020 healthy blood donors who were negative for c100-3 antibody to hepatitis C virus (HCV) were retrospectively screened for the presence of antibodies against a core protein of HCV using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blot analysis as part of a study on posttransfusion non-A,non-B hepatitis.


RESULTS
Eight (0.4%) of the 2020 donors were positive for HCV core antibody. Posttransfusion non-A,non-B hepatitis occurred in 5 of five patients known to have received blood that was positive for HCV core antibody and 1 of 141 patients transfused with blood that was negative for HCV core antibody. The total incidence of posttransfusion non-A,non-B hepatitis was 4.1 percent (6/146). The nucleotide sequence of the nonstructural 5 region of the HCV genome obtained from two donors and corresponding recipients was also analyzed. The HCV genome sequences were identical for one donor-recipient pair, and there was 99.4-percent homology for a second pair.


CONCLUSIONS
Anti-core-positive blood proved to be highly infectious for HCV, and this validated the use of the second-generation anti-HCV assay for blood donor screening.
Watanabe
M
M
Third Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Niigata University, Japan.
Ohkoshi
S
S
Tawaraya
H
H
Miyajima
T
T
Shimotohno
K
K
Kamimura
T
T
Asakura
H
H
D001483:Base Sequence; D001782:Blood Donors; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D005260:Female; D005814:Genes, Viral; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission*; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D012367:RNA, Viral