Hepatitis c virus antibodies in dialysis patients in Tunisia : a single center study

Abstract EN

Fifty-eight patients on maintenance hemodialysis in a dialysis unit at Tunis, Tunisia were tested for anti-hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) antibodies by second generation ELISA test, and for HCV-RNA by nested reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of 5' non-coding region.

Specificity of the antibodies was confirmed by immunoblot test.

HCV genotype was defined using INNO-LIPA test.

Twenty-seven out of 58 patients (46.5 %) were reactive by ELISA.

Transaminase levels were assessed over a six-month period and showed normal average values.

Fourteen of the 27 anti-HCV positive patients (51 %) were positive by RT-PCR.

Type 1b HCV genotype was the most prevalent, seen in all the dialysis patients and one patient in addition, was coinfected with genotype 4.

There was a significant correlation between the duration on dialysis (over five years) and the prevalence of anti-HCV-positive patients (P < 0.005) while no correlation existed between the number of blood transfusions and the presence of anti- HCV antibodies.

The present study illustrates the high prevalence of HCV infection among Tunisian dialysis patients (51 %) and indicates that the spread may be nosocomial rather than transfusion-related.