A STUDY OF ISRAELI BLOOD-DONORS, ASYMPTOMATIC CARRIERS OF HEPATITIS-CVIRUS, IN RELATION TO LIVER-DISEASE, CRYOGLOBULINEMIA AND TRANSMISSION

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.