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Antibody to Hepatitis‐C‐Virus‐Related Proteins in Sera from Alanine‐Aminotransferase‐Screened Blood Donors and Prospectively Studied Recipients
Author(s) -
Widell A.,
Sundström G.,
Hansson B. G.,
Moestrup T.,
Nordenfelt E.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
vox sanguinis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.68
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1423-0410
pISSN - 0042-9007
DOI - 10.1111/j.1423-0410.1991.tb00867.x
Subject(s) - medicine , hepatitis c virus , antibody , blood transfusion , hepatitis , hepatitis c , gastroenterology , alanine transaminase , immunology , viral disease , hepatitis b , alanine aminotransferase , flaviviridae , virology , virus
. A prospective study of posttransfusion non‐A, non‐B hepatitis was conducted in Malmö, Sweden, in 1984–1985, in which donors were alanine aminotransferase (ALT) screened but not ALT selected. Among 741 patients studied at 0, 6, and 12 weeks after transfusion, 13 developed non‐A, non‐B hepatitis, and these were further followed up. Stored sera from the 13 hepatitis patients and their 123 donors were tested for anti‐hepatitis C virus (HCV) by ELISA and, if positive, analyzed by recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA). All ALT‐elevated blood units (n = 301) and a similar number of ALT‐normal units were also tested. Only 4/13 patients with non‐A, non‐B hepatitis seroconverted to anti‐HCV, all with ALT peaks >10 times the upper normal. All seroconversions occurred within 5 months after transfusion and could be confirmed by RIBA. Hepatitis C in recipients occurred both after transfusion of blood that was strongly positive, weakly positive, and/or negative for anti‐HCV by ELISA. In donors grouped by ALT levels, the anti‐HCV prevalence varied between 0.4 (normal ALT) and 14% (ALT elevated ≥ 2 times). Of the total of 9 donor units positive by ELISA, only 5 were confirmed by RIBA. Of the 5 recipients of the RIBA‐positive blood units, 3 went into hepatitis, 1 remained normal at 10.5 weeks, and 1 showed a slight, transient ALT elevation at week 12. The recipients of ELISA‐positive but RIBA‐negative blood remained healthy.