title: Incidence of post-transfusion hepatitis in Taiwan before and after introduction of anti-HCV testing.
abstract: The effectiveness of second-generation anti-hepatitis C virus antibody (anti-HCV) screening of blood donations for the prevention of non-A, non-B post-transfusion hepatitis (NANB PTH) was assessed. A prospective study of 192 transfusion recipients was performed to compare the incidence of NANB PTH after the introduction of the second-generation anti-HCV test with the incidence before its introduction. We used a polymerase chain reaction to detect HCV-RNA and HBV-DNA in the sera of patients with NANB PTH. The incidence of acute post-transfusion hepatitis C was 11% (8 of 71) before the screening for anti-HCV as compared with 2.5% (3 of 121) after the screening (p < 0.05). Viremia was detected within the first five weeks of infection in 10 patients with acute post-transfusion hepatitis C. However, there was no significant difference in the incidence of non-A, non-B, non-C (NANBNC) PTH before screening (3 of 71, 4.2%) compared with after screening (3 of 121, 2.5%). Usually, NANBNC PTH was not clinically important. Anti-HCV screening of blood donors significantly reduces the incidence of post-transfusion hepatitis C, but not the incidence of NANBNC PTH.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: T T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: K C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: Y J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: H L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: M Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: X Z
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: C Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Shin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D013624:Taiwan
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D012367:RNA, Viral