Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is highly prevalent in thalassemic patients, and this may decrease the serum antibody response to hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine. There is also some alteration of the immune system in multi-transfused thalassemic patients, as a consequence of iron overload. We investigated whether HCY infection may reduce the effectiveness of HBY vaccine in multi - transf...

OBJECTIVE To detect hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies in seronegative donors by disruption of the immune complexes (ICs). SUBJECTS AND METHODS HCV antibody detection was carried out on 600 seronegative donors following an IC dissociation assay. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was then performed on the positive results. RESULTS Nine of the 600 samples (1.5%) were po...

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a significant problem in the management of haemodialysis patients. A high prevalence of HCV infection in haemodialysis patients has been reported. Risk factors such as the number of blood transfusions or duration on haemodialysis have been identified. Aim: To determine the prevalence of HCV by antibody testing and HCV-RNA determination by polymer...

BACKGROUND: Chemiluminescence immunoassay (CIA) is used to detect hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody status on the basis of signal-to-cutoff (S/Co) ratios. Positive results of antibody to HCV (anti-HCV) are followed by either recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA) to confirm anti-HCV positivity or reverse transcription (RT)-PCR to detect viremia. We hypothesized that by analyzing S/Co ratios, we cou...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Injecting drug use is a major route of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in India, but there may be other risk factors also. This study was carried out to determine the seroprevalence of anti-HCV antibody in injecting drug users (IDUs) vs. non-IDUs (NIDUs), and to study the risk estimates for HCV seropositivity in the total sample of substance users with regard to variou...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an important health care problem in haemodialysis. Hepatitis C virus is both a cause and complication of kidney diseases. Yet there are limited information on antibody against HCV in patients on haemodialysis. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of anti-HCV and the risk factors associated with HCV infection in a cohort of 100 participants on haem...

BACKGROUND Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a significant problem in the management of haemodialysis patients. A high prevalence of HCV infection in haemodialysis patients has been reported. Risk factors such as the number of blood transfusions or duration on haemodialysis have been identified. AIM To determine the prevalence of HCV by antibody testing and HCV-RNA determination by polymer...

Objectives: To assess the prevalence and risk factors for HBV, HCV and HTLV-I co infection in the Iranian HIV positive Injecting Drug Users (IDU) patients admitted in hospital. Methodology: Analyses were based on 154 male IDU patients admitted in Infectious disease ward of Razi Hospital, Ahwaz, Iran, from April 2001 to March 2003. All of them had been tested for HIV infection (Elisa-antibody &W...

BACKGROUND The rate of sexual transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is debated. GOAL The goal was to measure the risk of sexual transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in a sexually active population. STUDY DESIGN Sexual behaviors and HCV antibody status were measured in persons seeking repeat HIV testing in San Francisco from October 1997 through March 2000. RESULTS Among 981 repeat te...