Hepatitis C virus detection in the semen of infected patients

Though HCV infection is a serious public health problem, some aspects of its biology are still not well understood, such as its transmission through seminal fluid and sexual transmission. We looked for HCV in the semen of infected patients. Thirteen patients were included. Semen fractions (seminal plasma, leukocytes and spermatozoa) were separated with 45% and 90% Percoll gradients. The HCV-RNA in blood and semen fractions was extracted using the same protocol (AMPLICOR Roche) and was detected using the qualitative Roche Amplicor test and by agarose gel electrophoresis, with ethidium bromide staining. The mean age of the patients was 40.7 years. Risk factors for the acquisition of HCV included injectable and inhaled drug use in six (42.8%), blood transfusion in four (28.6%), and no risk factors in four (28.6%) patients. Genotype 1 was detected in 62% of the patients, followed by genotype 3 in 23% and genotype 2 in 15%. All blood samples were positive, regardless of the technique used for detection. All semen samples identified by Roche Amplicor and analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis were negative. Among the 52 semen samples (total and fractions) identified by the Roche Amplicor method, 45 (87%) were inhibited. A negative result was recorded for one (1.9%) total semen sample, one (1.9%) leukocyte and four (7.7%) seminal plasma fractions. Only one (1.9%) sample of the spermatozoon fraction was positive. The results obtained suggested false-negative reactions for the semen samples.