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A study of primary‐ and re‐infection with hepatitis C virus in blood transfusion recipients
Author(s) -
MENG ZONGDA,
XU DONGGANG,
SUN DEGUI,
LU HOYING,
COPLAND JOY,
LIU CAIYUN,
MA XIANKAI,
CHEN SHUFEN,
NIU JIANZHANG,
SUN YONDE,
GOWANS ERIC J.
Publication year - 1994
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.1440-1746.1994.tb01711.x
Subject(s) - medicine , hepatitis c virus , serology , hepatitis c , immunology , blood transfusion , hepatitis , viral disease , virology , antibody , virus
A nested polymerase chain reaction was used to assess viraemia in blood transfusion recipients with no serological evidence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (naive recipients) and in recipients with prior or existing HCV infection (infected recipients), who were transfused with HCV‐positive blood. In 10 hepatitis cases in naive recipients, defined as primary infection, nine showed clinical hepatitis, and one was sub‐clinical; the time between transfusion and elevation of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels was 15–60 days (37.9 ± 13.9). All 10 naive recipients showed abnormal ALT, and 10/10 and 7/10 were persistently positive for anti‐HCV and HCV‐RNA, respectively, for more than 1 year. Similarly, in five cases in previously infected recipients, defined as re‐infection, 4/5 showed clinical hepatitis, the time to elevation of ALT was 30–46 days (34.8 ± 6.4), and 5/5 and 3/5 were persistently positive for anti‐HCV and HCV‐RNA, respectively, for more than 1 year. All five infected recipients showed abnormal ALT. In conclusion, there was no significant difference (P = 0.05) in the frequency of the markers of infection resulting from primary or re‐infection with HCV, suggesting that primary infection fails to induce a protective immune response.