A prospective study of posttransfusion hepatitis in Taiwan

In a follow-up study of 6 months or more of two hundred and ninety-six patients who had received blood transfusion, 37 (12.5%) developed acute posttransfusion hepatitis. Patients with posttransfusion hepatitis had significantly higher donor numbers and transfusion amounts than patients without hepatitis. Frequency was not related to the age, sex or hepatitis B carriage of recipients. There were no cases of fulminant hepatitis. Of 37 patients with hepatitis, 36 were diagnosed as non-A, non-B hepatitis and one as hepatitis B. Twenty-two (59.5%) of the 36 patients with non-A, non-B hepatitis seroconverted to hepatitis C antibody. Two of these were positive for hepatitis C antibody before transfusion and 12 were negative for hepatitis C antibody. Thirty-three of the 36 patients were followed-up for more than 6 months after the onset of hepatitis. While 13 of the 33 patients recovered, the remaining 20 (60.6%) patients still had persistent liver test abnormalities 6 months after the onset of hepatitis. Seventeen (85%) of the 20 patients who developed chronic hepatitis were hepatitis C antibody positive. In contrast, only four (30%) of the 13 patients who recovered after acute hepatitis were positive for the hepatitis C antibody. Chronicity rate was not related to the patient's sex, age, transfusion amount or donor number. Our results suggest a high frequency of posttransfusion hepatitis C in Taiwan and that the infection has a high risk of chronicity.