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. 1993 Feb;17(2):192-8.
doi: 10.1016/s0168-8278(05)80037-6.

Prevalence of hepatitis C viral infection in a community in Taiwan. Detection by synthetic peptide-based assay and polymerase chain reaction

J C Sheu  1 , J T Wang, T H Wang, C Y Wang, P M Yang, G T Huang, L N Shih, H S Lee, D S Chen
Affiliations

Prevalence of hepatitis C viral infection in a community in Taiwan. Detection by synthetic peptide-based assay and polymerase chain reaction

J C Sheu et al. J Hepatol. 1993 Feb.

Abstract

The prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) in a hepatitis B virus hyperendemic region was evaluated with a second-generation enzyme immunoassay. A general population of 1500 from Northern Taiwan was tested with this immunoassay which includes synthetic peptides from the capsid and non-structural protein region as the solid-phase antigen. A total of 37 subjects out of 1500 (2.5%) were positive, with no significant difference in distribution between hepatitis B antigenemic and non-antigenemic samples. The prevalence of anti-HCV was higher in subjects with abnormal than those with normal liver function tests (8.2% vs. 1.5%). Prevalence increased with age. By polymerase chain reaction, 43% of anti-HCV-positive samples were HCV-RNA-positive. However, only 1 (0.6%) of 150 anti-HCV-negative subjects had HCV-RNA. Comparison of the results with those from a conventional recombinant C100-3-based assay showed that the capsid/non-structural region synthetic antigen system provided more accurate sensitivity and specificity. The more sensitive assay revealed a high prevalence for HCV infection of 2.5% among this general population in Taiwan.

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