Enterically transmitted
non-A, non-B hepatitis: Recovery of virus-like particles from an epidemic in south Delhi and transmission studies in rhesus monkeys.
Antibody to hepatitis B core antigen as a paradoxical marker for non-A, non-B hepatitis agents in donated blood.
Inactivation of hepatitis B virus and non-A, non-B hepatitis by chloroform.
Although transfusion-transmitted cases of
non-A, non-B hepatitis were relatively easy to document, sporadic (community-acquired) cases predominated.
The CDC researchers compared matched controls with 218 hepatitis B patients and 140 patients (diagnosed with
non-A, non-B hepatitis. (At that time there was no diagnostic test for hepatitis C.) They found 14 percent of the hepatitis B patients had multiple heterosexual partners in the past six months.
"Thus, it appears that hepatitis C virus is a major cause of community-acquired
non-A, non-B hepatitis as well as post-transfusion
non-A, non-B hepatitis," the researchers write in the April 21 SCIENCE.
blood-transfusion recipients contract
non-A, non-B hepatitis, a poorly defined ailment that is diagnosed when lab tests indicate biochemical signs of liver injury but no signs of hepatitis in the blood.
He says the percentage of positive results varies with the population tested, adding he expects the screening test now in development to detect at least 80 percent of donated blood units that are infected with
non-A, non-B hepatitis viruses.
