BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to explore the epidemiology of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and to determine the risk factors for HCV infection among heroin abusers in Taiwan. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study. From November 2004 to February 2005, 577 subjects, including 423 subjects (73.3%) using injectable heroin and 154 subjects (26.7%) using smoked heroin from one mal...

Of 21,791 pregnant women screened in Tottori Prefecture, Japan, 127 (0.58%) were positive for anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody and 84 (0.39%) were positive for HCV RNA. Of 84 children followed up for at least 6 months, 7 (8%) were infected. All of them were born to 26 mothers with a high virus load (HVL; >/=2.5x106 RNA copies/mL [27%]), compared with 0 of 58 children born to non-HVL mother...

To develop surrogate viruses for hepatitis C virus (HCV), we previously produced recombinant vesicular stomatitis viruses (rVSVs) lacking glycoprotein G but instead expressing chimeric HCV E1/E2 fused to G. These rVSVs were not infectious in HCV-susceptible hepatoma cells. In this study, to develop an infectious surrogate HCV based on an rVSV (vesicular stomatitis virus [VSV]/HCV), we generated...

Hepatitis C virus-like particles (HCV-LPs) containing the structural proteins of HCV H77 strain (1a genotype) was used as a model for HCV virion to study virus-cell interaction. HCV-LPs showed a buoyant density of 1.17 to 1.22 g/cm(3) in a sucrose gradient and formed double-shelled particles 35 to 49 nm in diameter. Flow cytometry analysis by an indirect method (detection with anti-E2 antibody)...

In this cross sectional anonymous study, blood samples of 285 dentists and Physicians were tested for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBs Ag), hepatitis B envelope Ag (HBe Ag), antibodies to: hepatitis B suface (anti-HBs), hepatitis B core Ag (anti-HBc) and hepatitis B envelope Ag (anti-HBe) by ELISA-3 and antibody to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) by ELISA-3 and immunoblotting tests. The results su...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Evidence is accumulating that hepatitis B virus (HBV) is present in patients who are hepatitis B surface antigen negative but have antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc). Furthermore, recent studies have shown that patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who have antibody to hepatitis C virus (HCV) often possess HBV related serological markers. Data on the seroprevalence...

Background: The clinical significance of antiphospholipid antibodies in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) and some other viral infections is controversial. Objective: To study the prevalence of anticardiolipin antibody (ACLA) and antibeta2glycoproteinI antibody (antibeta2GPI antibody) in HCV and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infected patients and its association with liver clinical parame...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the association of cryoglobulinaemia and autoimmune markers with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in patients on maintenance haemodialysis (HD) and post renal transplantation. METHODS Serum samples of 103 HCV-antibody (anti-HCV) positive and 105 anti-HCV negative patients were investigated for cryoglobulins. These comprised 136 patients on HD and 72 renal transplant ...

BACKGROUND A decline of hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody titers (anti-HCV), ultimately resulting in seroreversion, has been reported following clearance of viremia in both acute and chronic HCV infection. However, frequency of seroreversion remains unknown in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/HCV-coinfected patients. We describe anti-HCV dynamics among HIV-infected men who have sex with men (M...