title: [Hepatitis C epidemiology in the central area of Portugal. Prevalence of anti-HCV in the population of the district of Coimbra].
abstract: Anti-hepatitis C virus antibody (anti-HCV) screening was performed in a sample of the adult population of the Coimbra District. 657 persons were included (267 male and 390 female, mean age of 42.7 +/- 13.1 years), aleatorily chosen from four characteristic councils. Anti-HCV was detected using an ELISA-2 test and all positive sera were also tested with RIBA-2. General prevalence of anti-HCV was 0.46%. All positive patients live in urban areas and presented risk factors for HCV infection. Anti-HCV was found in 33.3% of intravenous drug abusers, in 1.8% of transfused individuals, in 1.33% of alcoholics (higher than 80 g/d alcohol ingestion), in 1% of cases with history of surgical operations, and in 0.65% of persons who lived in risk regions for hepatitis B. We conclude that anti-HCV prevalence is low in our region. We think it is important to perform other studies in larger samples of general population and to study risk groups.
authors.affiliation: Serviço de Medicina III, Serviço de Imunohemoterapia dos Hospitais da Universidade de Coimbra.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bento
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sá
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tomaz
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pais
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Porto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000276:immunology; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011174:Portugal / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
chemical_list: D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies
vernacular_title: Epidemiologia da hepatite C na região centro de Portugal. Prevalência do anti-VHC na população do distrito de Coimbra.