[Incidence of non-A, non-B hepatitis at a hemodialysis unit]

[Survival of the hepatitis C virus in a dialysis population in Goiânia, Goiás]

The patients were 173, aged 10 to 70 years old. An Elisa II test was undertaken and 61 to 173 (35.3%) had positive test; when INNO-LIA test was made, soropositivity was 26% (44/173). Patients with anti-VHC antibodies have been kept on hemodialysis treatment for periods longer than negatives (p < 0.05). Neither drugs users, blood transfusions, sexual and aminotransferase activity were significantly correlated with the infection. There is an elevated prevalence of anti-VHC antibodies among chronic hemodialysis patients which seems to be related to the time that patients are on dialysis treatment.

Antibodies against non-structural c100/3 and structural core antigen of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in hemodialysis patients

Two groups of patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) maintenance were evaluated for their antibody response to non-structural c100/3 protein and structural core protein of hepatitis C virus (HCV). Forty-six patients (Group 1) never presented liver abnormalities during HD treatment, while 52 patients (Group 2) had either current or prior liver enzyme elevations. Prevalence rates of 32.6% and 41.3% were found for anti-c100/3 and anti-HCV core antibodies, respectively, in patients with silent infections (Group 1). The rate of anti-c100/3 in patients of Group 2 was 71.15% and reached 86.5% for anti-HCV core antibodies. The recognition of anti-c100/3 and anti-core antibodies was significantly higher in Group 2 than in Group 1. A line immunoassay composed of structural and non-structural peptides was used as a confirmation assay. HBV infection, measured by the presence of anti-HBc antibodies, was observed in 39.8% of the patients. Six were HBsAg chronic carriers and 13 had naturally acquired anti-HBs antibodies. The duration of HD treatment was correlated with anti-HCV positivity. A high prevalence of 96.7% (Group 2) was found in patients who underwent more than 5 years of treatment. Our results suggest that anti-HCV core ELISA is more accurate for detecting HCV infection than anti-c100/3. Although the risk associated with the duration of HD treatment and blood transfusion was high, additional factors such as a significant non-transfusional spread of HCV seems to play a role as well. The identification of infective patients by more sensitive methods for HCV genome detection should help to control the transmission of HCV in the unit under study.