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Epidemiology and hepatitis C virus in Victoria
Author(s) -
Fairley Christopher K,
Leslie David E,
Nicholson Suellen,
Gust Ian D
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1990.tb136899.x
Subject(s) - medicine , epidemiology , virus , hepatitis c virus , hepatitis , haemophilia , antibody , hepatitis c , immunology , virology , pediatrics
Parenterally transmitted non‐A, non‐B (NANB) hepatitis virus or hepatitis C virus is a common cause of both acute and chronic hepatitis. Using a recently developed enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay we looked at the prevalence of antibodies to hepatis C virus (anti‐HCV) in a number of groups. People with haemophilia (75.6%) and intravenous drug users (61.9%) had the highest prevalence, while homosexual men attending a sauna (34.1%) and prisoners (30.8%) had a moderately high prevalence of anti‐HCV. A lower prevalence of antibody was detected in female prostitutes (10.4%), institutionalised mentally retarded subjects (9.5%), homosexual men requesting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing through their local doctor (8.8%), dialysis patients (5.9%), renal transplant patients (6.9%), and patients referred from a sexually transmitted diseases clinic (6.2%). The lowest prevalence of anti‐HCV was recorded in women attending a provincial hospital for antenatal care (0.4%). The predominance of anti‐HCV in groups of people exposed to blood‐borne and sexually transmitted infections suggests that these routes may be primarily involved in the spread of hepatitis C virus infection.