Abstract
The significance of hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody determination as a screening test was examined prospectively by clarifying the positive rate of HCV antibody in transfusional blood and examining the incidence of posttransfusional non-A non-B hepatitis and characters of HCV antibody positive blood after HCV antibody screening in Tokushima Prefecturte.
The following results were obteined.
1. The HCV antibody positive rate in blood after conventional screening with aspartate aminotranserase (ALT) activity was 0.9% and the rate in all donors blood were 1.35%.
2. The HCV antibody positive rate in blood of more than 36 KU ALT activity was 7.6%. The positive rate in blood of less than 35 KU ALT activity was 1.2%. The HCV antibody positive rate in higher ALT activity blood showed significantly higher values.
3. No significant difference was observed in HCV antibody positive rate between HBs antigen negative group and positive group.
4. Various test values were compared between HCV positive group and negative group after conventional screening. As a result, ALT showed significantly heighter values in the HCV antibody positive group. No significant difference was observed in alkalinephosphatase, total protein, albumin, albumin-globulin-index, blood urea nitorogen, cholesterol between both groups.
5. Posttransfusional non-A non-B hepatitis occurred in 3 (3.4%) of 87 cases that received transfusion with HCV antibody screened blood. It was significantly lower than the rate before initiation of HCV antibody screening.
6. It became clear that introduction of trnasfusion blood screening with HCV antibody is effective in the prevention of posttransfusional hepatitis.
