SIMILAR PREVALENCE OF HEPATITIS-C VIRUS-I NFECTION IN HEMOPHILIA PATIENTS TREATED IN 2 CLINICAL CENTERS IN THE FORMER WESTERN AND EASTERN PART OF GERMANY

Objective: This study analyzed infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) in 2 patient groups treated at two hemophilia centers in the eastern a nd western part of Germany before reunification. Since the use of fact ors prepared from small and large plasma pools was the essential diffe rence between the centers, this data map help to clarify whether the s ize of the plasma pool implies any difference in the rate of infection with HCV. Design: Retrospective study using sera taken 1990 and 1991. Setting: Departments of Medicine and Transfusion Medicine of the Univ ersity Hospitals in Ulm and Dresden, representing 2 centers of the for mer western and eastern part of Germany. Patients: 86 transfused patie nts with congenital coagulopathies, treated in Ulm (57 patients) and D resden (29 patients), Controls: 16 partners of the Ulm patients, 6 unt ransfused patients with Willebrandt's syndrome and 42 healthy blood do nors. Interventions: Screening for the sera for HCV antibodies, HCV-RN A and transaminases. Correlation of the infection with I-ICV with the severity of the coagulopathy, transfusion frequency and the infection markers for hepatitis B virus and HIV. Results: Antibodies against HCV were demonstrated in 81 and 58% of the patients treated in Ulm and Dr esden, respectively (p=0.03): HCV-RNA could be amplified from the sera of 55 and 38% of the patients (p=0.1). SGPT was elevated in sera of 8 2% of the patients positive both for antibodies against HCV and viral RNA. SGPT was elevated in only 17% of the patients with HCV antibodies in the absence of viral RNA. HCV infection correlated with the freque ncy of transfusions with noninactivated factor preparations and with t he coinfection with hepatitis B virus. Sera from partners of the patie nts were all negative for HCV. Three of 41 random factor preparations used to treat the patients in Ulm were positive for HCV-RNA. In contra st to the patients from Ulm (16% HIV-positive), none of the patients f rom Dresden, who were only treated with small-pool preparations, had b een infected with HIV. Conclusions: This data demonstrate that the ris k of getting infected with HCV was similar in the former eastern and w estern part of Germany. Use of small as compared with Large plasma poo ls for preparation of coagulation factors did not result in an apparen t difference in infection rates with HCV.