Prevalence of hepatitis C virus antibodies and hepatitis C virus‐RNA in an urban population

Abstract

Several studies had been carried out on anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence in populations with blood exposure risks and in blood donors. New tests are now available which allow the investigation to extend to other parameters such as antibody type and HCV-RNA. In this study the prevalence of anti-HCV c100-3 and the associated epidemiological, clinical, and virological markers were evaluated in subjects from an urban population located in central Italy. In positive cases the time persistence of HCV-RNA and anti-HCV antibody pattern was studied. For this purpose, sera from 1,484 randomly sampled individuals, aged 30-69 years, collected in 1985 and stored at -80 degrees C were retrospectively tested. The prevalence was 0.87% (i.e., 13 anti-HCV c100-3 positive cases). A significant association was observed with raised alanine transaminase (ALT) levels (P less than 0.001). Paired serum samples from 11 out of the 13 subjects collected in 1985 and 1991 were tested by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using primers from the 5' non-coding region and by 4-RIBA. Concordant RIBA patterns between 1985 and 1991 were observed in the majority of positive paired sera (7/9) as well as for HCV-RNA (6/9). HCV-RNA was present in sera simultaneously positive to both types of antibody or to anti-c100-3 or anti-c22 alone. A wide spectrum of viral and antibody patterns in anti-HCV c100-3 positive sera was observed in this urban population and persisted for at least 6 years.

Molecular Epidemiology of Hepatitis C Virus Genotype 4 Isolates in Egypt and Analysis of the Variability of Envelope Proteins E1 and E2 in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis

“…HCV RNA was extracted from 100 l of serum using the guanidinium isothiocyanate method (44). The regions NS5b and E1 were amplified as previously described (3).…”

Hepatic steatosis: A specific sign of hepatitis C reinfection after liver transplantation

“…HCV RNA was tested by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction as previously described. 5 In brief, RNA was extracted from 50 µL of serum with three volumes of extraction buffer (4.2 mol/L of guanidium isothiocyanate; 2.5 mmol/L of tris-HCl, pH 8; 0.5% sarkosyl) with phenol red/chloroform (1:1 v/v), and chloroform. HCV RNA was precipitated mixing the aqueous phase with an equal volume of isopropyl alcohol plus 1/10 volume of 3 mol/L of sodium acetate, pH 5.3.…”

Heterogeneity of Hepatitis C Virus Genotype 2 Variants in West Central Africa (Guinea Conakry)

“…prevalence by age was present rising from 4"6% and 7% to 12% among the age groups 16-25, 26-35 and 36--45, respectively. Anti-HCV positive sera from a subsample of 73 sterile sara, collected for virological studies and stored at -80 °C, were tested for the presence of HCV-RNA by a previously described RT-PCR method performed on the 5'NCR (Rapicetta et al, 1992) and NS5b genome regions . Seven HCV isolates were studied: one was from a blood donor (DO12) and the other six from in-and outpatients (MED007, MED011, MED017, PH33, PH48 and PH52).…”