| low incidence of non-a, non-b post-transfusion hepatitis in london confirmed by hepatitis c virus serology. | to see whether the introduction of screening tests for post-transfusion non-a, non-b hepatitis (nanbh) in the uk would be worth while, the incidence of such hepatitis was assessed among patients receiving blood during operations at five hospitals served by the north london blood transfusion centre. 387 patients, who each received blood or blood components from an average of 3 donors were followed up prospectively and blood samples were taken every 2 weeks for 3 months and then each month for a f ... | 1991 | 1672391 |
| seroprevalence of hepatitis b and c in a merseyside hospital for the mentally handicapped. | this study reports the prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis b virus (hbv) and c virus (hcv), and the frequency of potential exposure to these viruses among patients and staff in six long-stay wards of a hospital caring for mentally handicapped adults from the mersey region. a retrospective survey of risk behaviour among 134 patients and questionnaire survey of 75 nursing staff was performed. serum samples from both groups were tested for hbv markers and patient sera for antibodies to hcv by enz ... | 1994 | 7509754 |
| prevalence of hepatitis c antibodies in clinical health-care workers. | health-care workers are known to be at risk from occupational transmission of blood-borne viruses, including hepatitis c. there may be serious implications following infection with hepatitis c including possible transmission to patients. we determined the prevalence of hepatitis c virus (hcv) antibodies among health-care workers at risk of occupational contact with blood and body fluids and among source patients in reported blood-exposure incidents. anonymised stored blood samples from health-ca ... | 1994 | 7516460 |
| prokaryotic expression and analysis of the antibody response to a newcastle isolate of the core gene of hepatitis c. | the full length hepatitis c virus (hcv) core gene was isolated from a newcastle strain and expressed in e. coli. a truncated hcv core gene which lacks the hydrophobic carboxyl-terminal sequence was also expressed. the truncated hcv core was expressed at higher levels with fewer cleavage products. antibody reactivity to the recombinant hcv core antigen was analysed by elisa and western blotting in 60 hcv antibody-positive patients with a broad spectrum of liver disease. there was no significant d ... | 1995 | 7539832 |
| molecular epidemiology of hepatitis c virus infection amongst intravenous drug users in rural communities. | the prevalence of hepatitis c virus (hcv) infection amongst a group of intravenous drug users (ivdus) resident in west suffolk (east anglia, england) was investigated and compared with the prevalence of infection with hepatitis b virus (hbv) and human immunodeficiency virus (hiv). in addition, both the level of hcv persistence, as defined by detection of viral rna, and the hcv genotypes present in this population were determined. it was found that hcv antibodies were present in 59% of those test ... | 1995 | 7542693 |
| community prevalence of hepatitis c viraemia: a polymerase chain reaction study. | in order to estimate the prevalence of hcv carriage in an inner city health district, we undertook a polymerase chain reaction (pcr) based survey of sera collected from 1,0002 patients attending general practitioners for reasons unrelated to liver disease. the series comprised 305 sample selected sera patients sample from sera 995 patients previously screened by c100 antigen-based anti-hcv tests. overall, 7 patients were positive for hcv rna. four cases had anti-c100 antibodies to hcv, 2 were st ... | 1994 | 8083657 |
| a method for the detection and confirmation of antibodies to hepatitis c virus in dried blood spots. | this study describes the development and evaluation of a cost effective test rationale for the detection of anti-hcv in dried blood spots. samples were screened using an 'in house' igg elisa that incorporated the recombinant proteins c22-3, c200 and ns5. confirmation of specific antibody to hcv was by a modification of the immunoblot riba 3.0. an extensive panel of well evaluated anti-hcv positive and negative samples from the uk and south africa were used to assess the sensitivity and specifici ... | 1997 | 9389410 |
| large-scale hcv rna screening in first-time blood donors: the first step towards genomic screening of blood donations. hcv rna screening study group. | individual genomic screening for viruses in blood donations is becoming increasingly pressing as an alternative to pool testing to improve the safety of the blood supply. | 1999 | 10341330 |
| hepatitis c lookback exercise. | | 2000 | 10893826 |
| the prevalence of hepatitis c in england and wales. | to estimate the background population prevalence of hepatitis c in england and wales, observe the prevalence over time and assess the extent of infection outside of known risk groups. | 2002 | 12423608 |
| lichen planus is not associated with hepatitis c virus infection in patients from north west england. | it has been suggested that infection with hepatitis c virus may be associated with the development of lichen planus and that geographical area may be an important factor affecting the relative risk. the present 2-centre, prospective, epidemiological study investigates this possible association in north west england. a total of 45 patients with classical and/or erosive mucous membrane lichen planus and 32 controls were tested for seropositivity to hepatitis c virus. none of the patients with lich ... | 1999 | 10494717 |
| the most prevalent hepatitis c virus genotypes in england and wales are 3a and 1a. | hepatitis c virus (hcv) genotypes were assigned to 567 individuals by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the 5' noncoding region of the hcv genome following reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. the groups of individuals in this study included hemophilia patients, injecting drug users (idus), blood donors, antenatal patients, those attending genitourinary medicine (gum) clinics, and patients with chronic liver disease, all from england and wales. the majority of hcv ... | 1999 | 10335859 |
| prevalence of hepatitis c in an ethnically diverse hiv-1-infected cohort in south london. | there is limited information on the prevalence of and risk factors for hepatitis c virus (hcv) infection among hiv-1-infected patients in the uk. our objective was to determine the prevalence of hcv infection among an ethnically diverse cohort of hiv-infected patients in south london, and to extrapolate from these data the number of co-infected patients in the uk. | 2005 | 15876288 |
| nucleic acid technology (nat) testing and the transfusion service: a rationale for the implementation of minipool testing. | | 1998 | 9569453 |
| pathways of care and resource utilization in a national cohort of patients with transfusion-acquired hepatitis c. | the hepatitis c strategy and action plan for england recommend that all individuals testing positive for hepatitis c virus (hcv) should be referred to a specialist centre for assessment and care. one key aim is to reduce the number of people progressing to liver disease and therefore reduce the associated costs. the aims of this paper are to describe the care pathways and evaluate resource utilization in a cohort of 826 patients with transfusion-acquired hepatitis c enrolled in the hcv national ... | 2005 | 16255763 |
| hepatitis c virus: epidemiology and genotypes in the north east of england. | the epidemiology of hepatitis c virus (hcv) infection was studied in an english teaching hospital over an 18 month period. a total of 104 hcv antibody positive patients were referred for further investigation. they were divided into those diagnosed through screening (blood donors and intravenous drug abusers) and those diagnosed for other reasons, and their mean ages, known risk factors for hcv transmission, genotypes, and liver biopsy histology were analysed. screened patients were significantl ... | 1996 | 8801210 |
| clinical pathways for patients with newly diagnosed hepatitis c - what actually happens. | management of hepatitis c virus (hcv)-infected individuals requires referral to specialist care. to determine whether patients newly diagnosed as anti-hcv positive are appropriately referred for further investigation and management, and if not, to determine why not. we studied patients tested for antibodies to hcv by nottingham public health laboratory in a 2-year period (2000-2002). the progress of newly diagnosed anti-hcv positive patients into specialist clinics for further management was doc ... | 2006 | 16611193 |
| modelling the force of infection for hepatitis b and hepatitis c in injecting drug users in england and wales. | injecting drug use is a key risk factor, for several infections of public health importance, especially hepatitis b (hbv) and hepatitis c (hcv). in england and wales, where less than 1% of the population are likely to be injecting drug users (idus), approximately 38% of laboratory reports of hbv, and 95% of hcv reports are attributed to injecting drug use. | 2006 | 16762050 |
| outbreak of acute hepatitis c following the use of anti-hepatitis c virus--screened intravenous immunoglobulin therapy. | hepatitis c virus (hcv) infection has been associated with intravenous (iv) immunoglobulin (ig), and plasma donations used to prepare iv ig are now screened to prevent transmission. thirty-six patients from the united kingdom received infusions from a batch of anti-hcv antibody-screened intravenous ig (gammagard; baxter healthcare ltd., thetford, norfolk, england) that was associated with reports of acute hepatitis c outbreak in europe. the aim of this study was to document the epidemiology of t ... | 1996 | 8613001 |
| follow up of blood donors positive for antibodies to hepatitis c virus. | | 1994 | 8068079 |
| heterogeneity of hepatitis c virus genotypes in hemophilia: relationship with chronic liver disease. | in this study we have determined the hepatitis c virus (hcv) serotype and genotype in a cohort of 96 hcv-infected hemophiliacs and have examined the relationship between hcv genotype and severity of chronic liver disease as determined by liver biopsy. hcv serotype was determined by specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (elisas) and genotype by restriction fragment length polymorphism (rflp) and hcv viral sequencing. the pattern of genotype distribution was quite unlike that of hcv-infected ... | 1995 | 7858256 |
| low risk of sexual transmission of hepatitis c virus. | sexual transmission of hepatitis c virus (hcv) was studied between 104 anti-hcv positive index cases (99 haemophilic men, five women) who have attended the oxford haemophilia centre and 104 (98 female, 6 male) longstanding sexual partners. ninety-one percent of the index cases were hcv rna positive by the polymerase chain reaction (pcr) and 56% were anti-human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) positive. three (2.9%) sexual partners (each a female partner of a different hcv rna positive haemophilic ma ... | 1993 | 7689092 |
| hepatitis c-related chronic liver disease among asymptomatic blood donors in the north west of england. | in the first 19 months of screening, the north western regional transfusion centre (rtc) tested 224,000 consecutive blood donors for antibody to hepatitis c virus (anti-hcv) by second generation enzyme immunoassay (eia). of these, 366 repeatedly reactive samples were referred for confirmatory testing at manchester public health laboratory (phl). there, the initial eia was repeated, together with two further eias. all the referred samples were subjected to a confirmatory line immunoblot (riba-ii) ... | 1995 | 7545715 |
| hepatitis c and injecting drug use in prisons. | | 1994 | 7524876 |
| hepatitis c in asymptomatic british blood donors with indeterminate seropositivity. | | 1994 | 7524875 |
| a study of anti-hepatitis c positive blood donors: the first year of screening. | in the u.k., blood donations have been routinely screened for anti-hcv since september 1991. in order to get the most epidemiological benefit from these extensive screening data, the histories obtained at counselling from donors confirmed to be anti-hcv positive, 'indeterminate' and falsely positive have been analysed in detail. in addition, the associations with potential risk factors have been investigated by comparing these groups of donors with a control group of 771 routine donors bled on o ... | 1994 | 7522834 |
| infections detected in english surgical bone and deceased donors (2001-2006) and estimated risk of undetected hepatitis b and hepatitis c virus. | infections can be transmitted through donated tissue products, such as femoral heads. here we describe infections detected through microbiological testing of english surgical bone and deceased donors (2001-2006) and estimate the residual risk of infection. | 2008 | 19138256 |
| hepatitis c (hcv)-positive blood donors in south-west england: a case control study. | the aim of this study was to compare the socio-demographic characteristics and risk factors in anti-hcv positive blood donors with those of matched controls. the participants were 50 hepatitis c antibody (hcv) positive blood donors and 50 matched blood donors with no evidence of hcv infection, who gave blood to the south western transfusion centre between november 1991 and july 1992. a confidential structured interview was conducted to collect socio-demographic data and to elicit information on ... | 1994 | 7522833 |
| low prevalence of antibody to hepatitis c virus in north east england. | the prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis c virus (anti-hcv) was studied in north east england in blood donors, local multiply transfused patients, local high risk individuals, and chronic liver disease patients. anti-hcv was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) in 2/1120 (0.18%) blood donors; 1/84 chronic renal failure patients on haemodialysis who had received 1,992 units of blood (seroconversion rate of 0.05% per unit transfused), 1/207 cardiac patients 6 months post cardiac ... | 1990 | 1964476 |
| chronic hepatitis c is associated with peripheral rather than hepatic insulin resistance. | chronic hepatitis c (chc) is associated with insulin resistance (ir), liver steatosis (genotype 3), and increased diabetes risk. the site and mechanisms of ir are unclear. | 2010 | 19962985 |
| hepatitis c virus: evidence for sexual transmission. | to determined the prevalence of hepatitis c virus infection and associated risk factors in patients attending a genitourinary medicine clinic, as evidence for sexual transmission. | 1991 | 1647826 |
| prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis c in dialysis patients and transplant recipients with possible routes of transmission. | the prevalence of hepatitis c infection and possible predisposing factors was assessed in a renal unit. of 343 patients at our renal dialysis centre, 37 (10.8%) were anti-hcv positive by a 1st-generation assay (elisa, ortho/chiron) and confirmed positive in 35 (10.2%) with a 2nd-generation test (ubi, new york). anti-hcv positivity was significantly associated with: duration of renal replacement therapy (p < 0.0001); quantity of blood transfused (p < 0.002); duration of hospital haemodialysis (p ... | 1992 | 1283447 |
| screening for hepatitis c virus in the dartmoor prison population: an observational study. | prisons are a potential setting for hepatitis c screening. this study describes prisoner flows through such screening for all prisoners entering dartmoor prison between 1 january 1998 and 30 june 2001. | 2004 | 15598857 |
| failure to diagnose recent hepatitis c virus infections in london injecting drug users. | hepatitis c virus (hcv) infection results in chronic liver disease in a substantial proportion of those infected. most new cases of hcv infection in the uk are associated with intravenous drug use. it is important to identify these infections because of the implications for the future health of the individuals concerned and for the control of further spread of infection. however, as hepatitis c infection is characterised by a relatively long asymptomatic period of seronegative viraemia, a labora ... | 2004 | 15221898 |
| risk factors, clinical features and genotype distribution of diagnosed hepatitis c virus infections: a pilot for a sentinel laboratory-based surveillance. | hepatitis c is a global public health problem. a cross-sectional survey was undertaken to determine the frequency of reported risk factors and possible transmission routes in individuals in whom hcv antibody (anti-hcv) was newly detected. seven public health laboratories in england and wales reported persons with positive anti-hcv tests over a three-month period (1st november 1996-31st january 1997). a questionnaire was then sent to the clinician or general practitioner (gp) who requested the te ... | 2003 | 12736970 |
| the contribution of transfusion to hcv infection in england. | the english hcv lookback programme has identified some individuals with transfusion-transmitted hcv infection. the path from the collection of donations from hcv-infected donors to the identification of infected recipients was constructed. the probability of different outcomes at each branch was derived from data collected during this programme. this path of probabilities was then used to produce a complete estimate of the number of recipients infected by blood transfusions (dead and alive at th ... | 2002 | 12558342 |
| transfusion transmission of hcv infection before anti-hcv testing of blood donations in england: results of the national hcv lookback program. | an hcv lookback program started in england in 1995. | 2002 | 12430671 |
| genetic engineering. imperial college fined over hybrid virus risk. | | 2001 | 11486064 |
| projecting severe sequelae of injection-related hepatitis c virus epidemic in the uk. part 2: preliminary uk estimates of prevalent injection-related hepatitis c carriers, and derivation of progression rates to liver cirrhosis by gender and age at hepatitis c virus infection. | in part 2, we illustrate how available data can be used to obtain preliminary estimates for scotland of prevalent injection-related hepatitis c carriers and of maternally hepatitis c virus (hcv)-infected infants. novel approaches to reducing uncertainty about the number of scotland's hcv infected children of injector parents are discussed in brief. three approaches, one direct and two indirect, to estimating the number of current and ever-injectors are presented for england and wales. | 2001 | 11437089 |
| the prevalence and genetic diversity of hepatitis c infection in antenatal clinic attenders in two regions of england. | the prevalence and genetic diversity of hepatitis c infection in women attending antenatal clinics in two regions of england was investigated to inform future surveillance and control measures. women booking into antenatal care are routinely offered a test for immunity to rubella. serum residues from these tests were unlinked, anonymized and archived as part of the unlinked anonymous prevalence monitoring programme (uapmp). the serum specimens were tested for anti-hcv using a cost-effective pool ... | 2000 | 11218221 |
| effects of handling and storage of blood on the stability of hepatitis c virus rna: implications for nat testing in transfusion practice. | to determine the stability of hepatitis c virus (hcv) rna during transport and storage of blood samples from donors, prior to screening for hcv by nucleic acid amplification technology. | 2000 | 10838513 |
| advances in anti-viral therapeutics. | hepatitis c virus (hcv) and hiv infections are of high economical importance as they have a global impact, high mortality rates and, consequently novel treatments are urgently needed. worldwide, 170 and 34 - 46 million people are infected with hcv and hiv, respectively. hcv and hiv medications constitute the largest antiviral markets today. the efforts in fighting hcv infections are still limited to early clinical development, trying to establish proof-of-concept in man. however, in hiv, there i ... | 2005 | 15833066 |
| transmission of hepatitis c virus among hiv-positive homosexual men and response to a 24-week course of pegylated interferon and ribavirin. | to evaluate treatment outcome of acute hepatitis c virus (hcv) in hiv-positive individuals. | 2005 | 16123680 |
| prevalence of, and risk factors for, hepatitis c virus infection among recent initiates to injecting in london and glasgow: cross sectional analysis. | our aim was to compare the prevalence of antibody to hepatitis c virus (anti-hcv) among recently initiated injecting drug users (idus) in london and glasgow, and to identify risk factors which could explain differences in prevalence between the cities. complementary studies of community recruited idus who had initiated injection drug use since 1996 were conducted during 2001-2002. data on hcv risk behaviours were gathered using structured questionnaires with identical core questions and responde ... | 2005 | 16255768 |
| hepatitis c virus: laboratory surveillance in england and wales, 1992-2004. | between 1992 and 2004, a total of 49,819 confirmed hepatitis c infections have been reported to the health protection agency (hpa) by laboratories in england and wales; the annual number of reports increased from 241 in 1991 to 8149 in 2004. most reports with a known risk factor were in injecting drug users (87%, 12,438/14,221), but 71% (35,598/49,819) of the total had no reported identified risk. the age-sex distribution of the latter cases was similar to that in injecting drug users. using nam ... | 2007 | 16953951 |
| recent epidemic of acute hepatitis c virus in hiv-positive men who have sex with men linked to high-risk sexual behaviours. | to characterize the mode of hepatitis c virus (hcv) transmission in a recent epidemic of acute hcv in hiv-infected individuals using linked molecular and clinical epidemiological studies. | 2007 | 17457092 |
| travel-associated acquisition of hepatitis c virus infection in patients receiving haemodialysis. | it has been proposed that hepatitis c virus (hcv)-infected patients with end-stage renal disease undergoing maintenance haemodialysis may lack hcv antibody (anti-hcv) despite chronic hcv viraemia. this carries important implications for the design of surveillance policies. | 2007 | 17535845 |
| the burden of hepatitis c in england. | in england, a large number of individuals are infected with the hepatitis c virus (hcv) and may develop future liver complications, such as decompensated cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (hcc). estimates of the magnitude of this future burden are required to plan healthcare resources. we have estimated past incidence of hcv infection in england and predict future burden of end-stage liver disease in the hcv-infected population. a model of the natural history of hcv as a series of disease s ... | 2007 | 17650291 |
| increasing the uptake of hepatitis c virus testing among injecting drug users in specialist drug treatment and prison settings by using dried blood spots for diagnostic testing: a cluster randomized controlled trial. | the objective of this study was to assess whether introducing dried blood spot testing can increase hepatitis c virus (hcv) diagnostic testing. a cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted. sites were matched into pairs, with one site in each pair randomly allocated to receive the intervention (training and use of dried blood spot). data were collected from all sites for 6 months before and 6 months after the start of the intervention. the participants were 22 specialist drug clinics and ... | 2008 | 18086182 |
| diagnosis of acute hepatitis c virus infection and estimated incidence in low- and high-risk english populations. | the diagnosis of acute hepatitis c virus (hcv) infection is not straightforward; few people exhibit clinical symptoms and genome/antigen detection techniques do not indicate when infection had occurred. here, a strategy to detect hcv rna in the absence of antibody ('window-period') for diagnosis of acute infection is assessed. the sentinel surveillance of hepatitis testing study was used to retrospectively identify anti-hcv negative samples from high-risk individuals (2002-2003), for testing sin ... | 2008 | 18637073 |
| where are people being tested for anti-hcv in england? results from sentinel laboratory surveillance. | summary: many people infected with hepatitis c virus (hcv) are unaware of their infection and are, therefore. potentially infectious to others. to enable effective case-finding policies to be developed, an understanding of where people, and injecting drug users (idus) in particular, are accessing hcv antibody testing is needed. hcv antibody testing data were collected electronically from 21 sentinel laboratories in england between 2002 and 2006 in this cross-sectional study. service types of the ... | 2008 | 18637078 |
| an evidence synthesis approach to estimating hepatitis c prevalence in england and wales. | in england and wales, routine monitoring has been consistently showing an increase in mortality and morbidity due to infection with the hepatitis c virus (hcv). however, the magnitude of the underlying epidemic is still the subject of debate. in this paper we present estimates of the number of individuals aged 15-59 chronically infected with hcv in 2003, derived from a bayesian synthesis of information available from multiple sources on the size of the groups at risk for hcv and the risk specifi ... | 2009 | 19036917 |
| holiday haemodialysis and imported hepatitis c virus infection: a series of sixteen cases in two large haemodialysis units. | patients in haemodialysis units are at an increased risk of blood borne virus infections. birmingham city (west midlands, uk) has a large number of its population from an ethnic origin other than white (30%). recently due to the increase in number of haemodialysis centres abroad and particularly in the indian subcontinent, a large number of haemodialysis patients from these ethnic minorities are encouraged to take holidays in their countries of origin. | 2009 | 19451020 |
| hepatitis c infection among injecting drug users in england and wales (1992-2006): there and back again? | changes in hepatitis c virus (hcv) prevalence from 1992 to 2006 were examined by using 24,311 records from unlinked anonymous surveillance of injecting drug users in england and wales. bayesian logistic regression was used to estimate annual prevalence, accounting for changing recruitment patterns (age, gender, injecting duration, geographic region, interactions) and the sensitivity and specificity of different oral fluid testing devices. after controlling for these differences, the authors foun ... | 2009 | 19546152 |
| planning for the healthcare burden of hepatitis c infection: hepatitis c genotypes identified in england, 2002-2007. | identification of hcv genotype is a prerequisite for anti-viral treatment in england. treatment length and sustained virological response rates vary by genotype. therefore knowledge of circulating hcv genotypes is important for health-care providers. | 2010 | 20399704 |
| costs of a limited patient notification exercise following infection control failures in a dental surgery. | in february 2008, a primary care trust in cheshire merseyside was notified of failures in the infection control practises of a dentist working in a large group practice. on advice from national experts, a look-back was undertaken to identify any patients infected with hepatitis followed by a notification exercise of patients who had received invasive treatment immediately afterwards. one patient with hepatitis c (hcv) was identified. sixty patients were notified by letter and offered advice and ... | 2011 | 21869792 |
| chronic hepatitis c in children--review of natural history at a national centre. | the natural history of hepatitis c virus (hcv) infection in adults has been established, but less is known about outcome in children. we conducted a retrospective review of patients referred to birmingham children's hospital liver unit, from 1991 till 2008, with the diagnosis of hcv was undertaken. only children with documented positive hcv rna and a minimum duration of follow-up of 6 months were included. one hundred and thirty-three children were identified. the route of transmission was trans ... | 2011 | 21914074 |