title: [Screening and confirmation of anti-HCV antibodies in Tunisian blood donors].
abstract: Antibodies to Hepatitis C virus (HCV) were tested in 43000 Tunisian blood donors by using enzyme immuno-assay. Our results show that 0.7% (304/43000) were anti-HVC positive. Of these 304.78 were confirmed anti-HCV positive (0.18%) by immuno-blot, and 99 displayed an indeterminate profile. Different immune responses were observed: In donors with positive serologic pattern (78/304), 25.6% response towards whole antigens (C + NS3 + NS4 + NS5) was frequently observed (44/78) 56.4%. Reactivity to 2 antigens was observed in 28.2% (22/78) and with 3 antigens in only 15.4% (12/78), with systematic reactivity to core. In donors with indeterminate serologic pattern (99/304) 32.5%, reactivity to non-structural antigen NS5 was the most frequently observed (54/99) 54.5%, reactivity to non-structural NS3 antigen was noted in 27.3% (27/99) and to core antigen in 18.2% (18/99). No donors with isolated reactivity to NS4 were observed in our series.
authors.affiliation: Centre National de Transfusion Sanguine, Tunis, Tunisie.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abid
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fkih
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Khlass
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cherif
authors.forename: N H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Toumi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jenhani
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Boukef
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001782:Blood Donors; D005260:Female; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology*; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014416:Tunisia
chemical_list: D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies
vernacular_title: Dépistage et confirmation des anticorps anti-VHC chez les donneurs de sang tunisiens.