SPREAD OF HEPATITIS-C VIRUS-INFECTION WITHIN FAMILIES

In 1995, the intrafamilial spread of hepatitis C virus (HCV) was evalu ated among 1379 household contacts of 585 HCV antibody-positive HCV RN A-positive subjects tinder cases) in Italy, All index cases were patie nts with histologically proven chronic liver disease. The presence of antibodies to HCV (anti-HCV) was assessed by third-generation enzyme-l inked immunosorbent assay (ELISA); the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to test for HCV RNA. The over all anti-HCV prevalence among household contacts of index cases was 7.3% (101/1379); it was 15.6% in spouses and 3.2% in other relatives (P < 0.05: odds ratio (OR), 6.5; 95% confidence interval (CI), 3.5-8.6), Spouses married to index cases for longer than 20 years had a significantly higher anti-HCV prevalen ce than those married 20 years or less (19.8% vs 8.0%; P < 0.05: OR, 2 .8; 95% CI, 1.5-5.3). Parenteral risk factors were more likely to be r eported in anti-HCV positive than in anti-HCV negative household conta cts, After adjustment for confounders by multiple logistic regression analysis, age greater than 45 years (OR, 3.1; 95% CI, 1.6-5.3) and any parenteral exposure (OR, 3.7; 95% CI, 1.7-8.1), were the only indepen dent predictors of the likelihood of anti-HCV positivity among househo ld contacts. Spouses versus other relatives and length of marriage wer e both no longer associated, These findings suggest that sexual transm ission does not seem to play a role in the intrafamilial spread of HCV infection.