| seroepidemiology of viral infections among intravenous drug users in northern california. | intravenous drug users are frequently exposed to parenterally transmitted viral infections, and these infections can spread to the general population through sexual activity. we investigated the prevalence of serologic markers for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (hiv-1), human t-cell lymphotropic virus type i/ii (htlv-i/ii), hepatitis b virus (hbv), and hepatitis c virus (hcv) in intravenous drug users and their sexual contacts. of 585 drug users from northern california tested for these ser ... | 1992 | 1310362 |
| factors associated with the initiation of alpha-interferon treatment in medicaid patients diagnosed with hepatitis c. | we aimed to determine rates of treatment with alpha-interferon medication in patients diagnosed with hepatitis c virus (hcv), to ascertain the prevalence of selected conditions that could influence initiation of interferon treatment, and to examine the association between the presence of these conditions and interferon treatment. a nested case-control design was used in california medicaid (medi-cal) claims data covering the period from 1 january 1996 to 30 june 2002. interferon-treated cases an ... | 2005 | 15720533 |
| clinical and laboratory features of patients of vietnamese descent with systemic lupus erythematosus. | the prevalence rate and disease manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus (sle) have been noted to vary among different ethnic groups. there has been no description in the english literature of sle in the vietnamese population. this is the first report, which details the clinical and laboratory features as well as an estimation of the prevalence of sle in patients with a vietnamese ancestry living in the united states. we performed a retrospective chart review of clinical and laboratory fea ... | 1999 | 10483029 |
| application of six hepatitis c virus genotyping systems to sera from chronic hepatitis c patients in the united states. | serum samples from 139 us patients with chronic hepatitis c virus (hcv) infection were studied using six different genotyping systems, including both molecular and serologic methods, to determine the applicability of these approaches and the prevalence of various hcv subtypes. the concordance of genotyping results based on the various systems (except for core polymerase chain reaction genotyping) was good (93.5%). subtypes 1a and 1b were prevalent (37.4%). subtypes 2a (2.2%), 2b (8.6%), and 3a ( ... | 1995 | 7844363 |
| risk factors for hepatitis c virus infection among health care personnel in a community hospital. | to determine the prevalence of and risk factors for antibody to the hepatitis c virus in hospital employees. | 1993 | 7694529 |
| prevalence of hepatitis c virus antibodies among patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus. | a study was undertaken to determine the prevalence and risk factors for serological evidence of hepatitis c virus (hcv) infection in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (hiv). tests for anti-hcv antibody were carried out by enzyme-linked immunoassay (eia) on 101 hiv-infected patients from two university-based outpatient clinics. anti-hcv antibody reactive samples were tested by using a recombinant immunoblot assay (riba) for hcv antibodies. fourteen of 101 (13.9%) hiv-infecte ... | 1991 | 1715384 |
| molecular cloning and sequence analysis of an isolate of hepatitis c virus from southern california, u.s.a. | we obtained a cdna clone representing a partial rna sequence of a human hepatitis c virus (hcv) isolate from southern california. rna was extracted from the liver tissue of a patient with post-transfusion hepatitis, and used for cdna synthesis and polymerase chain reaction (pcr) amplification using oligonucleotide primers specific for the prototype hcv rna. the cdna clone obtained contains 585 base pairs of hcv sequences and represents the region encoding the putative nonstructural protein ns3 o ... | 1992 | 1364214 |
| prevalence of hepatitis c virus antibody in newborn infants in southern california in 2003. | the prevalence of hepatitis c virus (hcv) antibody in newborn infants in 3 counties in southern california in 2003 was found to be 2.5 per 1000 live births using dried blood spot testing. with advances in hcv antiviral therapy providing decreasing morbidity from chronic hcv infection, prenatal hcv screening to identify both mothers and at-risk infants should be reconsidered. | 2011 | 21394051 |
| randomized controlled trial of pegylated interferon-alfa 2a and ribavirin in treatment-naive chronic hepatitis c genotype 6. | hepatitis c virus (hcv) genotype is an important criteria in determining duration of therapy and predictor of sustained virologic response (svr) to pegylated interferon (peg ifn) and ribavirin (rbv) therapy. optimal duration of therapy for patients with hcv genotype 6 is not known. we conducted a multicenter, open-label randomized controlled trial of patients with hcv genotype 6 at five gastroenterology clinics in the western u.s. patients were stratified by viral load and histologic stage and a ... | 2010 | 21038410 |
| response to pegylated interferon and ribavirin in asian american patients with chronic hepatitis c genotypes 1 vs 2/3 vs 6. | chronic hepatitis c is generally underappreciated in asian americans, and most pivotal studies were conducted in western countries and only included a small numbers of asian patients. our goal was to examine and compare treatment outcomes in these patients with genotypes 1 vs 2/3 vs 6. we performed a retrospective cohort study of 167 consecutive treatment-naïve asian american patients treated with pegylated interferon (peg ifn) plus ribavirin (rbv) at two community clinics in northern california ... | 2010 | 20002562 |
| treat early or wait and monitor? a qualitative analysis of provider hepatitis c virus treatment decision-making in the context of hiv coinfection. | liver disease is a leading cause of death among patients with hiv coinfected with hepatitis c (hcv); yet, studies show that less than 10% receive hcv treatment, in part because of limited treatment response, high treatment toxicity, and psychosocial barriers to treatment readiness. using a process model framework, we sought to explore the factors and processes by which providers make hcv treatment decisions for hiv-coinfected patients. we conducted 22 semistructured interviews with primary care ... | 2009 | 19663714 |
| higher rate of sustained virologic response in chronic hepatitis c genotype 6 treated with 48 weeks versus 24 weeks of peginterferon plus ribavirin. | infection with hepatitis c virus (hcv) genotype 6 is common in patients from parts of china and southeast asia. no study to date has examined the treatment response to peginterferon and ribavirin (peg ifn + rbv) in these patients, or the effects of treatment duration on sustained virologic response (svr) rates. | 2008 | 18477343 |
| prevalence of hepatitis c virus infection among injection drug users in the united states, 1994-2004. | to examine hepatitis c virus (hcv) seroprevalence among injection drug users in 4 us cities from 1994 through 2004. | 2008 | 18462109 |
| positive cage screen correlates with cirrhosis in veterans with chronic hepatitis c. | the current study examines the relationship between problem alcohol use and severity of liver disease by self-administered questionnaires using both the cage questionnaire and beverage-specific quantity-frequency questions. the cohort consisted of 38 patients with cirrhosis (10 with decompensated liver disease) and 62 with mild fibrosis (stage 0-1), of comparable mean age and estimated duration of infection. although mean alcohol consumption was similar in both groups, a positive cage screen (de ... | 2007 | 17415636 |
| molecular epidemiology of hepatitis c virus subtype 3a in injecting drug users. | hepatitis c virus subtype 3a (hcv-3a) originates from asia and has spread widely among injecting drug users as well as other patient groups in industrialized countries. hcv subtype 3a infection remains highly prevalent and frequently transmitted in the population of intravenous drug users. the objective of this study was to understand better the mechanisms of the worldwide hcv-3a epidemics in drug users. ninety-three sera from hcv-3a-infected idus from france, the united states, brazil, argentin ... | 2006 | 16927280 |
| clinical presentation and course of acute hepatitis c infection in hiv-infected patients. | hepatitis c virus (hcv) has become a significant source of morbidity and mortality in hiv-infected patients. however, little is known about the clinical presentation and course of acute hcv infection in this population. this study reports the outcomes of acute hcv infection in 9 hiv-infected men. sex with men was the only reported risk factor for hcv infection in 6 of the subjects. clinical presentation of acute hcv ranged from incidentally discovered elevated transaminases to severe liver dysfu ... | 2006 | 16340470 |
| frequent hepatitis c virus superinfection in injection drug users. | the frequency of hepatitis c virus (hcv) superinfection with a divergent viral strain was determined in a cohort of recently infected young injection drug users (idus) with an hcv incidence rate of 25%. hcv was amplified, by use of polymerase chain reaction (pcr), from plasma samples collected from 25 hcv-infected individuals over an average period of 12 months, and their viral sequences were compared. phylogenetic analysis identified 5 idus with superinfection (20%) occurring after seroconversi ... | 2004 | 15378431 |
| epidemiology of hepatitis c virus infection in american veterans. | this study reports the findings of hepatitis c virus (hcv) infection in a large department of veterans affairs health care system in suburban northern california. | 2000 | 10710068 |
| chronic infection with hepatitis g virus in relation to hepatocellular carcinoma among non-asians in los angeles county, california. | the recently identified hepatitis g virus (hgv) is a hepatotropic rna virus belonging to the flaviviridae family. the virus causes chronic viremia, and exposure to blood products is a recognized route of transmission in humans. to the authors' knowledge there is scant information regarding the hepatocarcinogenic potential of hgv. the current study examined the association between hgv infection and the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma. | 1999 | 10491518 |
| characterization of anti-hepatitis c virus-positive sera not genotyped by restriction fragment length polymorphism or serology. | the hepatitis c virus genome is extremely heterogeneous and has been classified into six major genotypes. genotyping of hepatitis c has been achieved through both direct molecular approach and indirect detection of host genotype-specific antibodies by serological methods. the purpose of this study was to characterize anti-hepatitis c positive sera samples that were not genotyped either by restriction fragment length polymorphism or by serology. | 1999 | 10207783 |
| a prospective study of the risk of transfusion-acquired viral infections. | the risk of transfusion-transmitted viral infections may be estimated by several methods, but only prospective studies of transfusion recipients can directly measure the incidence, with associated 95% upper confidence bound, of these infections. from 1989 through 1995, 764 recipients of allogeneic or autologous red blood cell transfusions were enrolled; 486 (64%) provided both pretransfusion and 6-month follow-up specimens. both specimens were tested for anti-hbc, anti-hcv, anti-htlv-i and anti- ... | 1998 | 9800288 |
| temporal changes in hcv genotype distribution in three different high risk populations in san francisco, california. | abstract: background: hepatitis c virus (hcv) genotype (gt) has become an important measure in the diagnosis and monitoring of hcv infection treatment. in the united states (u.s.) hcv gt 1 is reported as the most common infecting gt among chronically infected patients. in europe, however, recent studies have suggested that the epidemiology of hcv gts is changing. methods: we assessed hcv gt distribution in 460 patients from three hcv-infected high risk populations in san francisco, and examined ... | 2011 | 21810243 |