scholarly journals Viral Persistence, Antibody to E1 and E2, and Hypervariable Region 1 Sequence Stability in Hepatitis C Virus-Inoculated Chimpanzees

1999 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 1118-1126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne E. Bassett ◽  
David L. Thomas ◽  
Kathleen M. Brasky ◽  
Robert E. Lanford

ABSTRACT The relationship of viral persistence, the immune response to hepatitis C virus (HCV) envelope proteins, and envelope sequence variability was examined in chimpanzees. Antibody reactivity to the HCV envelope proteins E1 or E2 was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in more than 90% of a human serum panel. Although the ELISAs appeared to be sensitive indicators of HCV infection in human serum panels, the results of a cross-sectional study revealed that a low percentage of HCV-inoculated chimpanzees had detectable antibody to E1 (22%) and E2 (15%). Viral clearance, which was recognized in 28 (61%) of the chimpanzees, was not associated with an antibody response to E1 or E2. On the contrary, antibody to E2 was observed only in viremic chimpanzees. A longitudinal study of animals that cleared the viral infection or became chronically infected confirmed the low level of antibody to E1, E2, and the HVR-1. In 10 chronically infected animals, the sequence variation in the E2 hypervariable region (HVR-1) was minimal and did not coincide with antibody to E2 or to the HVR-1. In addition, low nucleotide and amino acid sequence variation was observed in the E1 and E2 regions from two chronically infected chimpanzees. These results suggest that mechanisms in addition to the emergence of HVR-1 antibody escape variants are involved in maintaining viral persistence. The significance of antibodies to E1 and E2 in the chimpanzee animal model is discussed.

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-156
Author(s):  
Maryann C. Ezeilo ◽  
Godwill A. Engwa ◽  
Romanus I. Iroha ◽  
Damian N. Odimegwu

Background:The lack of a vaccine for Hepatitis C virus (HCV) places children at a high risk of contracting the infection. It becomes necessary to accurately diagnose this infection for proper treatment as well as identifying potential risk factors for effective management.Aim:This study was conceived to assess the test performance of the commonly used Immunochromatographic test (ICT) strip and identify the associated clinical manifestations and risk factors of HCV in children in Enugu Metropolis.Method:A cross-sectional study involving randomly selected 270 children below six years of age was conducted in Enugu Nigeria. The subjects were screened for anti-HCV by ICT and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and the demographic, signs and symptoms and risk factors were collected.Results:A total of 50 out of 270 children were positive for anti-HCV with a seropositivity of 18.5%. ICT strip had a very low sensitivity of 38.00% with an accuracy of 88.52% in detecting anti-HCV. The presence of dark urine was associated (p= 0.01) with HCV infection.Conclusion:A seroprevalence of 18.5% of Anti-HCV was found in children below six years old in Enugu metropolis and the performance of ICT in diagnosing HCV infection was poor compared to ELISA.


1995 ◽  
Vol 15 (6_suppl) ◽  
pp. 241-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Castelnovo ◽  
Giovanna Lunghi ◽  
Amedeo De Vecchi ◽  
Anna Grancini ◽  
Giovanna Como ◽  
...  

Objective To evaluate the relationship between hepatitis C virus antibodies (HCV-Ab) and viremia and to compare the prevalence of HCV-Ab and HCV viremia in hemodialysis (HD) and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Dialysis unit of a nephrology division in a public university hospital. Patients All dialysis patients who came for routine clinic visits during the study period. None denied informed consent. Forty-eight patients on HD and 79 on CAPD were examined. Intervention Blood samples were tested by secondgeneration enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA II) and recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA II) to look for HCV-Ab and by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to look for HCV viremia. Results ELISA II was positive in 52% of HD patients and in 14% of CAPD patients. RIBA II was positive in 48% of HD patients and in 11% of CAPD patients. HCV viremia was positive by PCR in 41.6% of HD patients and in 12% of CAPD patients. Two of these PCR-positive patients did not show HCV-Ab by ELISA II and RIBA II. The sensitivity and specificity of ELISA II were 93% and 92%, the sensitivity and specificity of RIBA II were 86% and 94%. Conclusions Our data confirm a higher prevalence of HCV viremia in HD than in CAPD patients. The absence of Ab against virus C in 2 patients positive with PCR might be due to recent HCV infection or to weak virus replication or to a poor immune response.


1969 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 463-468
Author(s):  
JAVED IQBAL FAROOQI ◽  
RUKHSANAJAVED FAROOQI ◽  
RIAZMUHAMMAD ◽  
ZAFAR ALI ◽  
ABDURREHMAN ◽  
...  

Background: Both HBV super-infection in patients with chronic hepatitis C and HCV super-infectionin patients with chronic hepatitis B have been reported. In case of co-infection, hepatitis B and C interactwith each other and affect immune responses resulting in active HCV with inactive HBV, active HBVwith inactive HCV, both active and both inactive. The objective of our study was to find out andcorrelate the virological and clinical profile in our patients with chronic hepatitis B and C co-infection.Material and Methods: This observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted atMedical ‘A’ Ward, PGMI, LRH Peshawar and Author’s Private Hepatology Clinic, from July 2010 toJune 2014. All patients with HBsAg and Anti-HCV Reactive by ELISA for more than six months wereincluded in the study. Following investigations were carried out in these patients: Serum ALT, HBeAg,anti-HBe, HBV DNA PCR, HCV RNA PCR, and abdominal ultrasound. Data was entered and analyzedusing SPSS version 16.0.Results: A total of 130 patients were included in the analysis, out of which 81 (62.3%) were males.Mean age of patients was 40.52±14.27 years. Majority of patients belonged to age-group of 21-30 years.Mean serum ALT of patients was 83.69±60.48 U/L. Majority of patients belonged to ALT-Group of 41-80 U/L. Hepatitis C Virus was the dominant virus in 53% of patients. Chronic Hepatitis was thedominant clinical profile in 73% of patients.Conclusion: Hepatitis C Virus is the dominant virus in our patients with BC co-infection. There is nostatistically significant association between virological and clinical profile of these patients.Key Words: Hepatitis B Virus, Hepatitis C Virus, BC Co-infection, Chronic Hepatitis, Cirrhosis,Hepatocellular Carcinoma


Author(s):  
Bushra . ◽  
Ambreen Ghori ◽  
Azra Ahmed ◽  
Najma Dalwani ◽  
Mushtaque Ali Shah ◽  
...  

Background: Pregnancy is a very crucial time in a woman’s life. In this period of time, not only multiple physiological alterations effect the usual health status but also makes women more vulnerable to contract infection and face negative sequalae. Hepatitis C, a blood borne viral infection serve the similar fate when encountered by pregnant ladies. This study is based on exploring the prevalence of the Hepatitis C virus seropositivity among pregnant population. Moreover, we also evaluated the major risk factors leading to the infection in these mothers. Besides this, infected mothers were studied for their pregnancy outcomes.Methods: In this study 114 pregnant females were observed for this cross-sectional study. It was conducted in Gynecology Unit- 1, Liaquat University Hospital Hyderabad, for the period of January 2017 to July 2017. Chi square test was applied for statistical analysis on SPSS version 16. The criteria for enrollment in the study was set to be a pregnant lady belonging to age group 20-35 years; having singleton pregnancy; was a booked case at the hospital with compliant to antenatal follow ups; admitted to the labor room for delivery. All the non-pregnant ladies, whom had co morbid conditions such as hypertension or diabetes or had infected with hepatitis B or D were excluded from the study. Furthermore, pregnant ladies with multiple gestion or those who were either diagnosed of hepatitis C prior to conceive or had a previous history of hepatitis C were also excluded.Results: Present study revealed that out of 114, 10(8.8%) pregnant ladies were found seropositive for Hepatitis C virus. Prior history for transfusion of blood was the Foremost risk factor discovered, with 60.5% women reported this. History of surgery was the 2nd commonest factor and 43.9% had this in their medical records. On the other hand, only 8.8% women gave the history for previous evacuation. While observing pregnancy outcomes, we found 48.2% neonates had low birth weight, 41.2% were born preterm and 21.1% had low APGAR score.Conclusions: In a nutshell hepatitis c is prevalent in the pregnant population of this region and showing its effects in the form of compromised pregnancies. History of blood transfusion and previous surgery were found to be chief risk factors in the study.


CJEM ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 6 (02) ◽  
pp. 89-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stan Houston ◽  
Brian H. Rowe ◽  
Laura Mashinter ◽  
Jutta Preiksaitis ◽  
Mark Joffe ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTObjectives:This study was designed to determine the prevalence of HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) in a specific population, and to distinguish between known and previously unrecognized infections in the emergency department (ED) setting.Methods:Consecutive patients aged 15 to 54 years who had presented to the EDs of 2 urban hospitals during a 6-week period were enrolled in a prospective cross-sectional study if a complete blood count had been obtained as part of their care. The study patients were initially cross-referenced against local databases of known HIV and HCV seropositive patients. After removal of all personal identifiers, the study patients’ leftover blood was serotested for HIV and HCV, and seroprevalences were calculated. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify factors associated with HIV and HCV infection.Results:Of 3057 individuals whose files were analyzed, 1457 (48%) were male and 7% (213) were Aboriginal. Overall, 302 patients (10%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 9%–11%) were seropositive for HCV and, of these, only 132 (44%) were previously known to be. HCV seropositivity was associated with Aboriginal status, age, male gender, hospital site and HIV infection (allp< 0.001). In contrast, 39 patients (1%; 95% CI, 1%–2%) were HIV seropositive. Of these, 32 (82%) were previously known to be HIV positive, and 27 (69%) were HCV seropositive. HIV seropositivity was only associated with HCV infection (p< 0.001).Conclusions:The rate of previously undetected infections was relatively low for HIV but high for HCV. Emergency physicians in urban settings will frequently encounter patients not known to be HCV positive and not identified as such. These results emphasize the need for more effective preventive measures in the community and the importance of observing standard (universal) precautions in ED practice.


1995 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Castelnovo ◽  
Giovanna Lunghi ◽  
Amedeo De Vecchi ◽  
Anna Grancini ◽  
Giovanna Como ◽  
...  

Objective To evaluate the relationship between hepatitis C virus antibodies (HCV-Ab) and viremia and to compare the prevalence of HCV-Ab and HCV viremia in hemodialysis (HD) and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Dialysis unit of a nephrology division in a public university hospital. Patients All dialysis patients who came for routine clinic visits during the study period. None denied informed consent. Forty-eight patients on HD and 79 on CAPD were examined. Intervention Blood samples were tested by second generation enzyme-Iinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA II) and recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA II) to look for HCV-Ab and by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to look for HCV viremia. Results ELISA II was positive in 52% of HD patients and in 14% of CAPD patients. RIBA II was positive in 48% of HD patients and in 11% of CAPD patients. HCV viremia was positive by PCR in 41.6% of HD patients and in 12% of CAPD patients. Two of these PCR-positive patients did not show HCV-Ab by ELISA II and RIBA II. The sensitivity and specificity of ELISA II were 93% and 92%, the sensitivity and specificity of RIBA II were 86% and 94%. Conclusions Our data confirm a higher prevalence of HCV viremia in HD than in CAPD patients. The absence of Ab against virus C in 2 patients positive with PCR might be due to recent HCV infection or to weak virus replication or to a poor immune response.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Ahmed A. Dahab ◽  
Maha Mohamed Youssef ◽  
Hany Mohamed Eid ◽  
Khaled W. Elsadi

Introduction. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) and their long-term sequelae are considered a major health issue in Egypt. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of undiagnosed hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) among patients admitted for elective eye surgery in a specialized eye hospital in Cairo, Egypt. Materials and Methods. This cross-sectional study was conducted in a specialized eye hospital, Cairo, Egypt. The study included consecutive patients admitted for elective eye surgery in the period from April 2015 to June 2016. Age, sex, and procedure done were recorded for all patients. All the subjects were screened for HBV and HCV by rapid chromatography immunoassay; if positive, the results had to be confirmed by ELISA. Results. 3067 patients admitted for elective eye surgery were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 50.85 ± 19.77 years. There were 1592 (51.9%) males and 1475 (48.1%) females. The prevalence of preoperative positive HBV and HCV was 7/3067 (0.2%) and 381/3067 (12.4%), respectively. Conclusion. Given the high prevalence of HBV and HCV infection in our population in general and in this study specifically, all patients admitted for surgery should be screened for both viruses.


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