Prevalence of hepatitis C viral infection in a community in Taiwan. Detection by synthetic peptide-based assay and polymerase chain reaction.
The prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) in a hepatitis B virus hyperendemic region was evaluated with a second-generation enzyme immunoassay. A general population of 1500 from Northern Taiwan was tested with this immunoassay which includes synthetic peptides from the capsid and non-structural protein region as the solid-phase antigen. A total of 37 subjects out of 1500 (2.5%) were positive, with no significant difference in distribution between hepatitis B antigenemic and non-antigenemic samples. The prevalence of anti-HCV was higher in subjects with abnormal than those with normal liver function tests (8.2% vs. 1.5%). Prevalence increased with age. By polymerase chain reaction, 43% of anti-HCV-positive samples were HCV-RNA-positive. However, only 1 (0.6%) of 150 anti-HCV-negative subjects had HCV-RNA. Comparison of the results with those from a conventional recombinant C100-3-based assay showed that the capsid/non-structural region synthetic antigen system provided more accurate sensitivity and specificity. The more sensitive assay revealed a high prevalence for HCV infection of 2.5% among this general population in Taiwan.
Sheu
J C
JC
Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Republic of China.
Wang
J T
JT
Wang
T H
TH
Wang
C Y
CY
Yang
P M
PM
Huang
G T
GT
Shih
L N
LN
Lee
H S
HS
Chen
D S
DS
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001483:Base Sequence; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000276:immunology; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D011897:Random Allocation; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies