Prevalencia de anticuerpos del virus de la hepatitis C en hemodializados crónicos y trasplantados renales.

Hepatitis C virus antibodies were measured in 26 chronic hemodialyzed patients and 43 kidney transplant recipients, using a second generation ELISA method. Fifty four percent of hemodialyzed had a longer duration of dialysis treatment compared with patients with negative antibodies (57.6 +/- 30.5 vs 15.4 +/- 7.3 months), and did not differ in the number of transfusions. Seven patients had elevated serum transaminase values, all with positive antibodies. Thirty five percent of kidney transplant recipients had positive antibodies. In these subjects, no relation was observed between the number of transfusions or length of dialysis treatment and the presence of positive hepatitis C antibodies.