Premium
Acute post‐transfusion hepatitis C in Taiwan: Evaluation of two generations of hepatitis C virus diagnostic enzyme immunoassay
Author(s) -
LEE SD.,
HWANG SJ.,
TSAI YT.,
LU RH.,
LO KJ.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of gastroenterology and hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.214
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1440-1746
pISSN - 0815-9319
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1746.1993.tb01690.x
Subject(s) - medicine , seroconversion , hepatitis c virus , antibody , immunoassay , hepatitis , blood transfusion , hepatitis c , immunology , virology , viral disease , hepatitis b virus , virus , gastroenterology
A total of 461 patients at the Veterans General Hospital, Taipei who had received blood transfusions since March 1981 were followed prospectively with serum biochemistry tests and viral hepatitis markers before and after the blood transfusions, periodically for at least 6 months. Sixty‐three (13.7%) patients developed post‐transfusion hepatitis (PTH). Of the patients with PTH, 71.4% were found to have antibody to hepatitis C virus (anti‐HCV) seroconversion during the 1 year follow‐up period by the first‐generation of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) enzyme immunoassay (EIA) antibody test, but the second‐generation EIA detected an increase to 88.9%. All sera positive by the first‐generation EIA were also positive by the second‐generation EIA. Their mean incubation of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) elevation was 6.5 weeks. The mean interval between the day of blood transfusion and the onset of active anti‐HCV seroconversion was 18.3 weeks if tested by the first‐generation EIA, but shortened to 9.5 weeks if tested by the second‐generation EIA. Of 49 acute PTH C patients who were followed up for more than 1 year, 32 (65.3%) still had abnormal serum ALT levels. The results of this study demonstrate that acute hepatitis C is a frequent and important complication in blood transfusions in Taiwan. The second‐generation HCV antibody EIA derived from HCV genes encoding both capsid and non‐structural proteins is more sensitive for detection of HCV infection than recombinant c100‐3 assay derived from the non‐structural region of the viral genome only.