Detection of hepatitis C virus and antibodies in postmortem blood and bloodstains

Tomokazu Takasaka1, Yoshito Itoh, Hiroto Kaneko

  • 1Department of Forensic Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, 465 Kajiicho, Kawaramachi-Hirokoji, Kamigyo, Kyoto 602-8566, Japan.

To evaluate the risk of accidental hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, we examined whether anti-HCV antibodies and HCV RNA were detectable in HCV-infected blood samples from living donors, cadavers, and bloodstains. We showed that even after blood has left the body for several days, anti-HCV antibodies and HCV RNA may persist in it.