1993 Volume 3 Issue 1 Pages 41-45
From 1988-91 we surveyed the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among the general population of Japanese individuals living in Fukuoka and Okinawa, Japan. The combined antibody to c100-3 protein (anti-c100) and the antibody to GOR epitope (anti-GOR) were used. Persons with HCV infection had anti-c100 and/or anti-c100 in their sera. The overall rate of HCV infection was 3.7% of 2, 835 persons in Fukuoka, a rate significantly higher than the 0.7% of 1, 789 in Okinawa (p<0.001). There was no association between gender and prevalence. In Fukuoka, the prevalence of HCV infection increased with age, from 0.6% in the 0-9 age group to 11.5% in those over 70 years of age. In the over 50 age group, episodes of blood transfusion (18.6%) and surgery (56.7%) in the general population of Fukuoka were more frequent than those (7.0%, 38.6%, respectively) of Okinawa (p<0.001). Moreover, the blood for transfusion in Fukuoka was supplied by paid donors at commercial blood banks from 1953 to 1969, but in Okinawa was supplied by relatives and friends. These results suggest that the difference in prevalence of HCV infection between Fukuoka and Okinawa may be due to episodes of medical treatments and that blood for transfusion from paid donors played an important role in HCV infection. J Epidemiol, 1993; 3 : 41-45.
