Antibodies to hepatitis C virus and hepatitis C virus RNA in Chinese blood donors determined by ELISA, recombinant immunoblot assay and polymerase chain reaction.

Antibodies to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) were determined in Chinese blood donors from the city of Wuhan by ELISA screening tests and confirmatory recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA). 281 and 222 sera were sampled under similar conditions in 1989 and 1990, respectively. The first collection of sera was sent to Sweden in lyophilized form, the second directly as fresh, unfrozen sera. A high proportion (22%) of the lyophilized sera were positive in the screening assay but only 6 (2.10%) were positive by RIBA with antibodies against both the C100-3 and 5-1-1 peptides. HCV RNA could be detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis in 3 of the 6 sera and in one reacting with C100-3 only. In the second material of fresh sera only 3 were positive in the screening anti-HCV ELISA, but none was RIBA or PCR positive. Thus, the overall prevalence of anti-HCV among the 503 Chinese blood donors as identified by RIBA was 1.2%, and that of HCV RNA by PCR was 0.8%. The confirmed antibody prevalence is higher than that reported in the western literature.