[The prevalence of hepatitis C antibodies among volunteer blood donors with elevated blood transaminase and antibodies to the B virus core antigen].

The use of non-specific markers before 1989 (increased serum transaminase values and antibodies to hepatitis B core antigen) as a screening method for blood donors in an attempt to decrease the incidence of post-transfusional non-A non-B hepatitis (currently hepatitis C virus) was a matter of controversy. To determine the impact of the use of these markers on the detection of blood donors infected with hepatitis C virus, a prospective study was undertaken in Málaga (1988-1989) with 5,003 volunteer donors with two objectives: a) to know the prevalence of these non-specific markers (anti-HBc and increased serum transaminase) and antibodies to HCV (anti-C100) in our blood donor population; b) to determine whether the presence of some of these non specific markers in blood donors was associated with a higher rate of virus C infection. The prevalence of antibodies to HCV in blood donors with increased serum transaminase and/or anti-HBc was significantly higher than the prevalence found among the general blood donor population.