Prevalence of anti‐HCV among Chinese patients with acute and chronic liver disease

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Abstract
To assess whether the hepatitis C virus plays an important role in Chinese patients with acute and chronic liver disease, antibodies to HCV (anti‐HCV) were measured by enzyme immunoassay in 67 patients with type A and B acute viral hepatitis, 165 patients with non‐A, non‐B (NANB) hepatitis, 438 patients with chronic hepatitis, 200 patients with postnecrotic liver cirrhosis, 72 patients with alcoholic liver disease, 55 patients with non‐alcoholic fatty liver, 24 patients with toxic and drug‐induced hepatitis, and 20 patients with other chronic liver diseases. Anti‐HCV was not detected in sera from patients with type A and B acute viral hepatitis, toxic and drug‐induced hepatitis, primary biliary cirrhosis, Wilson's disease, or lupoid hepatitis. The anti‐HCV prevalence was found to be highest in patients with NANB hepatitis (59% in sporadic and 73.2% in transfusion‐associated), 16.4% in non‐alcoholic fatty liver, 5.6% in alcoholic liver disease, 6.8% in chronic hepatitis, and 16% in postnecrotic liver cirrhosis. In patients with chronic hepatitis, the anti‐HCV prevalence was significantly higher in HBsAg‐negative (15/34, 44.1%) than in HBsAg‐positive cases (15/404, 3.7%; P<0.0001). The results indicate that HCV is a major agent of NANB hepatitis and plays an important role in HBsAg‐negative chronic liver disease in Taiwan.