Occult Hepatitis C Infection Among Hemodialysis Patients: A Prevalence Study

Annals of Hepatology

Farah Bokharaei-Salim¹  Mitra Ranjbar²  Shahrzad Ossareh³  Amir Shirali⁴  Shokoufeh Savaj⁵  Hossein Keyvani⁵  Amir H. Mohammad-Alizadeh⁶  Reza Naghdi⁷ 

[1] Correspondence and reprint:;Department of Infectious Diseases, Firouzgar Hospital, Iran;Department of Nephrology, Firouzgar Hospital, Iran;Department of Nephrology, Hasheminejad Kidney Hospital. Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;Department of Virology, Iran;Shahid Modarres Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;Toronto Centre for Liver Disease, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;

关键词: ESRD;    Hepatitis C virus;    Kidney transplant;    Liver disease;    Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cell (PBMC);   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Introduction and aim: Occult hepatitis C infection (OHCI) is the presence of HCV-RNA in the liver or peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) accompanying with negative serologic results. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of OHCI among Iranian chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients. Material and methods: In this cross sectional study 200 chronic HD patients with negative HCV antibody enrolled the study. Blood sample of patients were obtained, followed by Polymerase Chain reaction (PCR) testing for detection of HCV RNA. Patients with positive serum HCV RNA were considered as manifest hepatitis C infection (MHCI). However, patients with negative serum HCV RNA underwent further tests on PBMCs for detection of OHCI. Results: Serum HCV RNA was positive in 2 (1%) patients whom considered as MHCI, and 6 (3.03%) patients had positive PBMC HCV RNA. Conclusion: In conclusion, chronic HD patients have been considered as a high risk group for hepatitis C infection. The results of this study suggest that these patients are also at risk for OHCI. Furthermore, evaluating PBMCs to detect HCV RNA would be a sensitive diagnostic method to find OHCI patients.

【 授权许可】

Unknown