Screening of relatives of anti-hepatitis-C virus positive hemodialysed patients (preliminary data)

Summary currence of antibodies to hepatitis-C virus (HCV) was investigated (ELISA 2; 4-RIBA) in hemodialysed patients, and in positive cases the analyses were extended to their partners and relatives, too. We screened 70 patients, (mean age 62.4 years, age-range 19–88 years) with an average period of dialyses of 45.2 months (range 3–120 months). Of the study population, 16 subjects (22.8 %) were anti-HCV positive, half of them received blood transfusion in the past. The occurrence of anti-HCV was explored by using the same method in 10 of their sexual partners and 40 relatives (parents, siblings, children): none of them proved to be positive. The data obtained indicate that the ways of transmission of HCV infection differ from those known for hepatitis B virus (HBV).