engleski

Total HCV core antigen among anti-HCV positive IV drug users and hemodialysis patients

Percentage of individuals, infected with HCV, who are not successfully eliminating hepatitis C virus is generally high - usually going up to 85%. This percentage, however, is very questionable because , in a vast majority of HCV infection, entrance of HCV into the body is not recognised - it is clinically manifested in only about 10%. There is some data on greater percentage of HCV elimination after acute infection. Age of infected individuals is, according to these reports, one of the critical factors for the successful elimination of HCV. Younger individuals have better chances to eliminate HCV than older ones. Among anti-HCV positive individuals negative HCV-RNA(PCR) is a reliable proof of successful HCV elimination after infection. It was shown that HCV core antigen is in a very good quantitative correlation with HCV-RNA. We used this possibility to analyse presence of HCV in different age groups at the time of infection: IV drug users and haemodialysis patients - first group is generally infected in earlier ages than the second group. Total HCV nucleocapsid core antigen levels were determined by quantitative immunoassay using the Ortho track-C assay and RIBA for anti-HCV. A total of 241 sera (all anti-HCV positive ), 125 from IV drug users and 116 from haemodialysis patients were tested for total HCV core antigen. It was found among IV drug users (age span: 21 – 35 years) in 53, 3 % and among haemodialysis patients (age span: 35-55 years) in 73, 8%. It can be concluded that success in elimination of HCV after acute infection is much higher among younger than older individuals. Additional reason for lower percentage of HCV elimination in haemodialysis population could be its generaly impaired immunological status.

HCV core antigen; IV drug users; haemodialysis patients

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