NOSOCOMIAL TRANSMISSION OF HEPATITIS-C VIRUS IN HEMODIALYSIS-PATIENTS

A systematic virological follow-up of 114 haemodialysis patients treat ed in the same unit showed that 37, including 17 PCR positive patients , were seropositive for hepatitis C virus (HCV). Type Ib HCV was detec ted in 10 patients and was much more frequent in this population than in the whole population of patients treated in the hepatogastroenterol ogy departments in southeastern France. The E1/E2 genomic region of se ven type Ib HCV strains was sequenced. In four patients, a similar str ain was detected in both the Fl variable region and the E2 hypervariab le region (HVR1). In addition, two of these four patients were seroneg ative and PCR negative at the beginning of the study and had not been transfused or transplanted during this period. A phylogenetic tree was drawn which confirmed that these strains were very similar and showed that HCV was transmitted via the nosocomial pathway in this haemodial ysis unit. (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.