Hcff. Vasconcelos et al., HEPATITIS-B AND HEPATITIS-C PREVALENCES AMONG BLOOD-DONORS IN THE SOUTH REGION OF BRAZIL, Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, 89(4), 1994, pp. 503-507
The prevalence of hepatitis B and C infection has been determined in a
seroepidemiological survey among blood donors from the south of Brazi
l (Florianopolis, State of Santa Catarina). These markers has also bee
n correlated with the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), a surr
ogate marker to prevent post-transfusion hepatitis. Sera from 5000 don
ors were randomly collected in the period of April to November 1991. T
he prevalences of HBsAg, anti-HBs and anti-HBc were respectively 0.78%
, 7.02% and 13.98%. The anti-HCV prevalence after confirmation testing
with line immunoassay (LIA), was 1.14%. Normal values of ALT (< =32 U
/ml) were found in 59.78%, values slightly above the mean (ALT between
32-70 U/ml) in 37.74% and high values of ALT (>=70 U/ml) in 2.48%. Th
e positivity of anti-HCV antibodies increased with the elevation of AL
T levels. This correlation was not observed in relation to HBsAg. Ther
e exists a diversity in the recognition of HCV epitopes among HCV posi
tive donors. Via the confirmation test used, we could observe that 94.
7% of donors recognize the structural core antigen. Besides that, we o
bserved that 5.26% of the HCV reactive sera recognized only epitopes l
ocated in the NS4 and/or NS5 region, indicating the importance of thes
e epitopes for the improvement of assays.