Hepatitis C markers in hemodialysis patients.

The prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among the patients of a hemodialysis unit in Taiwan was determined by an immunoblot and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction algorithm to be 58.8% (67 of 114 patients) after serological surveys with two advanced-generation enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for anti-HCV and a C 100-3 single-antigen test. The results of the second-generation ELISAs, the supplementary immunoblot test, and the test for HCV RNA were in good agreement with each other, from 86.0 to 98.2%. The first-generation C 100-3 test lacked the sensitivity of the four other systems. The two advanced-generation screening ELISAs for anti-HCV, a multiple-recombinant-antigen test, the Abbott second-generation ELISA, and a synthetic peptide multiple-antigen test, the UBI HCV EIA, provided reliable and virtually equivalent detection of potentially infected blood. Antibodies to capsid 1 and capsid 2 determinants of the Liatek immunoblot system were the most frequently detected reactivities to HCV in the HCV-infected hemodialysis patients. The percentage of HCV-infected patients with abnormal liver function (alanine aminotransferase level, greater than 100 IU/liter) was higher than that of the uninfected patients. The prevalence of HCV infection was correlated to the duration of hemodialysis treatment and the amount of blood transfused, and the most common transmission mode was thought to be patient-to-patient transmission through the dialysis equipment. Several means of reducing the frequency of transmission between hemodialysis patients are suggested.