[Decreasing the risk of post-transfusion non-A, non-B hepatitis by anti-HCV screening]

In May 1990 a specific enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for NANBH was developed by recombinant DNA technology which detects antibodies to a virus called hepatitis C virus (HCV). The anti-HCV EIA was manufactured by Ortho Diagnostic Systems with recombinant antigens from Chiron Corp. based on extraction from high infectious titer chimpanzee plasma RNA after transcription into cDNA. We tested the anti-HCV prevalence of blood donors and hemodialysis patients. The anti-HCV prevalence with the first generation test was 0.52% (Ortho), 0.87% (Abbott) in blood donors and 4.16% in hemodialysis patients. The second generation anti-HCV test (Abbott) with improved sensitivity and specificity comprises 0.25% repeated anti-HCV-positive blood donors and 8.2% anti-HCV-positive hemodialysis patients.