BACKGROUND In Australia about half of the people who inject drugs (PWID) are hepatitis C (HCV) antibody positive (anti-HCV+). The prevalence among opioid substitution treatment (OST) clients specifically is unclear, despite OST clinics being a potential setting for HCV care. This study aimed to report the prevalence of HCV among a large sample of NSW OST clients, understand whether HCV testing ...

The aim of this study is to explore the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among injection drug users (IDUs) with and without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in southern Taiwan. For 562 IDUs (265 anti-HIV negative, 297 anti-HIV positive), we analyzed liver function, anti-HIV antibody, anti-HCV antibody, HCV viral loads, and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). HIV RNA ...

The prevalence of anti-E2 antibody in persons chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is high irrespective of viral genotype, and this cross-reactive antibody is thought to react with a conformational epitope. To investigate the characteristics of this anti-E2 antibody, the immunoreactivity of sera from HCV-1b-infected patients was measured against various modified forms of E2 glycopr...

OBJECTIVES The impact of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection on the success of renal transplant is controversial. We assessed the effect of HCV infection on graft and patient survival in renal allograft recipients. METHODS We retrospectively analyzed medical records of renal allograft recipients who were transplanted between June 1990 and March 2004. Patients were divided into those positive an...

OBJECTIVE This study was conducted to assess the accuracy of self-reported hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody (anti-HCV) serostatus in injection drug users (IDUs), and examine whether self-reported anti-HCV serostatus was associated with recent injection risk behavior. METHODS In five U.S. cities (Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle), 3,004 IDUs from 15 to 30 years old were r...

BACKGROUND Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection are especially problematic in patients with end-stage renal disease who are undergoing hemodialysis (HD). OBJECTIVES To determine the prevalence of HCV and HBV infection in HD population in Guilan, north of Iran. PATIENTS AND METHODS In a cross-sectional study, from May to September 2009, in 11 different hemodialysis u...

INTRODUCTION The ARCHITECT Anti-HCV assay is a fully automated high throughput chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay (CMIA) for the detection of antibodies to structural and nonstructural proteins of the hepatitis C virus (HCV). To further enhance the performance of this test, the assay was modified to improve the specificity for blood donor specimens. METHODS The specificity of the enha...

Antibody to the hypervariable region (HVR) of HCV is thought to have neutralizing activity. The HCV genotype is known to affect the clinical course of infection. The antibody response to HVR and its relationship to the virologic and clinical characteristics were investigated in 21 patients with chronic hepatitis C. HVRs amplified by polymerase chain reaction from serum HCV were expressed as glu...

conclusions this study demonstrated the detection of hcv-specific ifn-γ responses in hcv antibody and rna negative individuals, with a tendency for hcv-specific ifn-γ responses to be associated with hcv exposure. the potential role of hcv-specific ifn-γ responses in those who remained hcv rna negative is of value for the development of novel hcv therapeutics. objectives in a cohort of hcv antib...

hepatitis c virus (hcv) infection has been associated with a plethora of immune and autoimmune perturbations. a variety of conditions ranging from endocrinopathies to different skin diseases has been described in hcv infection. the aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and clinical significance of hcv infection in patients with graves’ disease (gd). a total of 55 patients with gd ...