Seroprevalence of HBV and HCV markers among intravenous drug abusers and subjects affected by chronic active hepatitis
De Mercato, R.; Ciampi, R.; Romano, A.; Guarnaccia, D.; Siciliano, V.; Cantiello, J.P.; Rippa, O.; Celentano, U.; Selva, V.; Romano, C.
Bollettino della Societa Italiana di Biologia Sperimentale 66(9): 841-847
1990
ISSN/ISBN: 0037-8771 PMID: 2127365 Document Number: 364941
In order to investigate the seroprevalence of HBV and HCV in Neopolitan area, we studied blood specimens of 180 IVDAs, 115 CAH patients and 72 healthy subjects using hepatitis B core (anti-HBs) and hepatitis C antibody (anti-HCV). High frequency of anti-HBs (80,9%) and strong association with an unexpected seroprevalence of anti-HCV (67%) was found in CAH patients. Our study does not explain these results, but suggest either a possible inference between both viruses or that serum from CAH subjects contains a component that gives false positivity.