Prevalence of anti-HCV antibody in blood donors in the Tokyo area.

Prospective studies of posttransfusion hepatitis carried out in the past decade showed that 18.1% of the blood transfusions resulted in non-A non-B hepatitis in Japan. As an approach to the prevention of posttransfusion non-A non-B hepatitis (PTNANB), anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) positivity was measured in 2,970 blood donations in the Tokyo area, and in 200 children aged between 6 and 15 years. Thirty-four cases were anti-HCV-positive, showing an overall positivity of 1.14%. None of the 200 children younger than 15 years old were positive. Correlation of anti-HCV positivity with the serum ALT levels was observed, but by reducing the accepted ALT levels from 35 Karmen Units (KU) down to 25 KU, it is estimated that 62.5% of the observed PTNANB would still have occurred, and 5.1% of the donated blood could not be used for transfusion. On the other hand, it is estimated that the majority of PTNANB could be prevented, with the loss of 1.14% of donated blood units, using the anti-HCV screening test.