Transmission of HCV by Organ Transplantation

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Abstract
In their article entitled "Transmission of Hepatitis C Virus by Organ Transplantation," Pereira et al. (Aug. 15 issue)* lacked critically needed scientific proof to warrant their conclusions. Moreover, several statements in the report are misleading and appear to bias the conclusions. For example, it is implied that hepatitis C virus (HCV) was transmitted by organ transplantation and that the HCV antibody (anti-HCV) appeared only after transplantation. If one looks at Table 1 of their article, however, only 8 recipients appear to have had a detectable positive HCV marker after transplantation and 3 of these 8 had the marker before transplantation, which means that anti-HCV developed in 5, rather than 12, as a result of the transplantation. One could argue that serum anergy might occur after transplantation as a result of immunosuppression. This could certainly have been determined by a study of the patients who were anti-HCV-positive before transplantation and who did not receive an organ from an anti-HCV—positive donor.