Prevalence of four blood-borne viruses (HBV, HCV, HTLV-I, HIV-1) among haemodialysis patients in Japan.

To investigate the prevalence of four blood-borne viruses among a cohort of haemodialysis (HD) patients in Japan, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), antibody to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV), antibody to human T-cell lymphotropic virus type-I (anti-HTLV-I), and antibody to human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (anti-HIV-1) were studied in the sera from 393 consecutive HD patients and in the sera from 786 age- and sex-matched healthy individuals from the general population (controls). The prevalence of anti-HCV and anti-HTLV-I was significantly higher in HD patients than in the controls (17.8% vs. 1.1% and 3.8% vs. 0.5%), but the prevalence of HBsAg showed no significant difference. No patients or controls were positive for anti-HIV-1. In HD patients with no history of blood transfusion, anti-HCV was detected in only one (2.1%) of 48 patients undergoing HD treatment for less than 3 years, and there was no significant difference between the prevalence of anti-HCV in these patients and in the controls. In HD patients who had received blood transfusion, anti-HTLV-I was detected in only one (1.0%) of 103 patients undergoing HD treatment for less than 3 years, and there was no significant difference between the prevalence of anti-HTLV-I in these patients and in the controls. These findings suggest that in recent years, the risk of HCV transmission by routes other than blood transfusion in HD patients is low, and that of HTLV-I transmission by transfusion is very low or non-existent.