[Post-transfusion viral hepatitis non-A, non-B; serologic analysis of hepatitis C infections]

Twenty patient, multitransfused 52 to 113 days before development of acute non-A, non-B viral hepatitis, were studied. In all of them UBI-HCV and Liatek tests (Organon) were performed in second day of hospitalization, and were repeated after 3 and 6 months. In 17 cases (85%) viral hepatitis C were diagnosed. In another three patients, hepatitis was probably caused by unidentified, non-A, non-B, non-C virus. The most frequently observed type of reactivity was parallel appearance of anti-HCV to structural and non-structural antigens in Liatek test (from 35% in first, to 70.6% in last investigation). Several patterns of combinations of serologic reactivity were observed. The most frequent anti-HCV were antibodies against structural, and anti-NS4 antigens. Chronic hepatitis developed in 65% of patients with hepatitis C.