Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Minia University, Minia, Egypt.
Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Minia University, Minia, Egypt.
J Med Virol. 2016 Aug;88(8):1388-93. doi: 10.1002/jmv.24467. Epub 2016 Jan 18.
Occult hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (OCI) was reported in an apparently disease-free state in the absence of liver disease, anti-HCV and HCV-RNA in the serum. The existing data examining the clinical significance of OCI and its potential as a source of HCV infection among hemodialysis patients are very limited. We examined the presence of OCI among patients on maintenance hemodialysis at Minia Governorate, Egypt; an HCV endemic country. A total of 81 subjects with negative markers for HCV were enrolled. HCV-RNA was tested in PBMCs by real-time PCR. For the 81 subjects, the average dialysis duration was 32.7 ± 21.7 months and the average ALT level (±SD) was 26 ± 12 U/L while that of AST was 29 ± 16 U/L. Out of the 81 subjects, three (3.7%) were HCV-RNA positive in PBMCs in the absence of serum anti-HCV and HCV-RNA indicating OCI. The viral load of the OCI subjects ranged from 172 to 4150 IU/ml. History of liver disease was positive in one of the three positive patients. These results highlight the potential risk of HCV transmission from patients within hemodialysis units in Egypt. J. Med. Virol. 88:1388-1393, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
隐匿性丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）感染（OCI）是指在无肝脏疾病、血清中无抗 HCV 和 HCV-RNA 的情况下出现的明显无病状态。目前关于 OCI 的临床意义及其在血液透析患者中作为 HCV 感染源的潜在可能性的相关数据非常有限。我们在埃及米尼亚省的维持性血液透析患者中检查了 OCI 的存在情况，该地区是丙型肝炎流行地区。共纳入 81 例 HCV 标志物阴性的患者。采用实时 PCR 法在 PBMCs 中检测 HCV-RNA。对于 81 例患者，平均透析时间为 32.7±21.7 个月，平均 ALT 水平（±SD）为 26±12U/L，AST 为 29±16U/L。在 81 例患者中，有 3 例（3.7%）在 PBMCs 中 HCV-RNA 阳性，而血清中无抗 HCV 和 HCV-RNA，提示 OCI。OCI 患者的病毒载量范围为 172 至 4150IU/ml。3 例阳性患者中有 1 例有肝脏疾病史。这些结果强调了埃及血液透析单元内的 HCV 从患者传播的潜在风险。J. Med. Virol. 88:1388-1393, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
