Outbreak of non-A, non-B hepatitis in centre haemodialysis patients: a retrospective analysis.

We reviewed the medical records of 177 patients who at 31 December 1985 had been on dialysis treatment for at least one year. Fifty cases of non-A, non-B hepatitis were found: 33 in 70 patients dialysed at the centre and 17 in 107 outpatients (P less than 0.0001). The difference was not related to blood transfusions but to the high prevalence of non-A, non-B in hospital patients who had not been transfused. The time on dialysis before the onset of non-A, non-B hepatitis became gradually shorter, from an average of 82 months before 1980 to 5.7 months in the patients starting haemodialysis after 1983. At follow-up, 7% of patients had abnormal hepatic enzymes 5 years from the onset of acute illness. The epidemiology of non-A, non-B hepatitis in haemodialysis patients appears to be similar to that of hepatitis B. Apart from blood transfusions, contamination of hospital environmental surfaces seems to be the major route of transmission. Our results strongly support a preventive programme for non-A, non-B hepatitis similar to that for hepatitis B, and a separate section for any patient with suspected non-A, non-B hepatitis must be considered.