Post-transfusion hepatitis C in Finland

Six of 11 (55%) non-A, non-B hepatitis (NANBH) patients seroconverted to hepatitis C virus antibody (anti-HCV) positivity 8-16 weeks after transfusions in a prospective post-transfusion hepatitis study on 685 open-heart surgery patients in Finland. Five of them had a seropositive donor, and two of the five non-converted NANBH patients had received an anti-HCV positive unit. Among 36 studied donors who were positive in the anti-HCV ELISA, reactivity of both the antigen bands in a recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA) for anti-HCV was significantly associated with NANBH (P < 0.00005) in the recipient. In addition, infective anti-HCV positive donors had raised ALT values more often than seropositive donors which caused no seroconversion or infection in the recipients (P = 0.0001).