[Seroprevalence of hepatitis C virus in hemophiliacs in Switzerland].

The sera of patients with hemophilia and von Willebrand factor deficiency, collected during clinical trials with virus-inactivated coagulation factor preparations, were retrospectively screened for the presence of antibodies against hepatitis C virus (HCV). Using the anti-HCV c100-3 assay, 10 out of 35 study patients had no HCV antibodies when entering the studies. The samples originally negative for anti-HCV were retested with a second-generation assay: all negative samples except two were positive on retesting. We conclude that the HCV seroprevalence in Swiss hemophiliacs must be of the order of > 90%. These results confirm that the first-generation assay for HCV antibodies is not sensitive enough; to obtain more accurate information on the seroprevalence of hemophiliacs, second-generation tests should be used.