HEPATITIS-C VIRUS-INFECTION IN ACQUIRED APLASTIC-ANEMIA

Hepatitis-associated aplastic anemia (HAAA) is an uncommon disorder th at usually is not due to hepatitis A or B virus infection. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) seropositivity is infrequently observed in aplastic anemi a (AA) patients who have not been extensively transfused. However, HCV seropositivity may not be detected until several weeks or months afte r viral infection and AA patients may exhibit defective humoral immuni ty. Therefore, we evaluated sera from AA patients for the presence of HCV viremia using a reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (R T-PCR) based assay and several serologic assays for HCV antibodies. Se rum samples from 90 AA patients who presented to the UCLA Medical Cent er between March 1984 and February 1990 were analyzed. Overall, 17 pat ients were found to have HCV viremia by RT-PCR assay, of whom 14 had a positive second-generation HCV enzyme immunoassay (EIA-2) and only 6 were EIA-1 reactive, The frequency of HCV viremia increased with the d uration of time between diagnosis and sample procurement, and the numb er of blood products transfused prior to sampling (P = 0.026). No pati ent who received fewer than 20 U of blood products or who was sampled less than 20 days after diagnosis had a positive HCV RT-PCR result. Of four patients with hepatitis-associated AA (HAAA), one who was sample d 23 days after diagnosis had hepatitis C viremia and a reactive EIA-2 assay. Therefore, the high frequency of HCV viremia in this patient p opulation is most likely due to transfusion with contaminated blood pr oducts prior to the introduction of routine blood donor screening for HCV. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.