title: Greater amount of HCV-RNA in tears compared to blood.
abstract: Plasma, tear fluid and swabs from eye, nose and pharynx of 33 patients were examined for presence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). All samples from plasma, tear fluid and eyeswabs were found to show a positive reaction in HCV-RNA PCR. Remarkably, we regularly found greater amounts of amplification products in tear fluid and eyeswabs compared to plasma using the same conditions for sample preparation.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie und Immunologie, Universitätskrankenhaus Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: H H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Feucht
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Polywka
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zöllner
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Laufs
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D001769:Blood / Q000382:microbiology*; D001826:Body Fluids / Q000382:microbiology; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D015342:DNA Probes / Q000235:genetics; D005123:Eye / Q000382:microbiology; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009666:Nose / Q000382:microbiology; D010614:Pharynx / Q000382:microbiology; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013666:Tears / Q000382:microbiology*; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D015342:DNA Probes; D012367:RNA, Viral