M. Stern et al., A STUDY OF ISRAELI BLOOD-DONORS, ASYMPTOMATIC CARRIERS OF HEPATITIS-CVIRUS, IN RELATION TO LIVER-DISEASE, CRYOGLOBULINEMIA AND TRANSMISSION, Israel journal of medical sciences, 31(5), 1995, pp. 277-279
In order to study the asymptomatic hepatitis C virus (HCV)-positive bl
ood donors in Israel we analyzed their sera for HCV-RNA using the poly
merase chain reaction technique. We found that 0.44% of blood donors w
ere anti-HCV positive. Of those who had repeatedly positive anti-HCV,
82% had evidence of HCV-RNA. One-third of them had elevated liver enzy
mes, but no detectable cryoglobulins were found in their sera. Althoug
h HCV-RNA was detected in the majority of the patients, we were unable
to demonstrate vertical or horizontal transmission among the family m
embers of our carrier population.