TY - JOUR
T1 - High level of hepatitis C endemicity in Gabon, equatorial Africa
AU - Delaporte, Eric
AU - Thiers, Valérie
AU - Dazza, Marie Christine
AU - Romeo, Raffaella
AU - Mlika-Cabanne, Najoua
AU - Aptel, Isabelle
AU - Schrijvers, Dirk
AU - Bréchet, Christian
AU - Larouzé, Bernard
PY - 1993
Y1 - 1993
N2 - To assess the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, a community-based study was performed in eastern Gabon on 1172 subjects over 5 years of age. The prevalence of antibodies to HCV (anti-HCV) detected using second-generation enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) and confirmed by an immunoblot assay (riba 2), was 6·5%. Anti-HCV prevalence increased with age but was related to neither sex nor ethnic group. Among 30 subjects with positive elisa results, 14 had HCV viraemia as shown by the polymerase chain reaction (11/12 riba positive, 2/15 riba negative, 1/3 riba indeterminate). We conclude that HCV is highly endemic in western equatorial Africa and that a high proportion of the population may be viraemic.
AB - To assess the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, a community-based study was performed in eastern Gabon on 1172 subjects over 5 years of age. The prevalence of antibodies to HCV (anti-HCV) detected using second-generation enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) and confirmed by an immunoblot assay (riba 2), was 6·5%. Anti-HCV prevalence increased with age but was related to neither sex nor ethnic group. Among 30 subjects with positive elisa results, 14 had HCV viraemia as shown by the polymerase chain reaction (11/12 riba positive, 2/15 riba negative, 1/3 riba indeterminate). We conclude that HCV is highly endemic in western equatorial Africa and that a high proportion of the population may be viraemic.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0027495387&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0027495387&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/0035-9203(93)90269-V
DO - 10.1016/0035-9203(93)90269-V
M3 - Article
C2 - 7507606
AN - SCOPUS:0027495387
SN - 0035-9203
VL - 87
SP - 636
EP - 637
JO - Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
JF - Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
IS - 6
ER -