Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Pregnant Women: Detection by Different Anti‐HCV Immunoassays and Serum HCV‐RNA

Abstract To assess the seroepidemiology of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in pregnant women and explore the correlation between different anti?HCV immunoassays, we investigated 2 independent groups in Taipei: 1,687 pregnant women without screening for serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (group A) and 260 pregnant women with elevated ALT activity (>45 IU/1) screened from 15,978 cases (group B). In group A, 11 women (0.65%) were found to be anti?HCV?positive by first?generation tests and 21 (1.24%) by second?generation tests, while 7 (2.69%) and 15 (5.77%) of the group B subjects were positive, respectively. The results of the second?generation assays, based either on recombinant proteins or synthetic peptides, were identical. Among the 36 second?generation anti?HCV?positive cases, 18 (86%) of the 21 cases in group A and 13 (87%) of the 15 cases in group B contained serum HCV?RNA by RT?PCR. We conclude that the prevalence of anti?HCV in pregnant Taiwanese women is 1.24%, and the prevalence is 5.77% among those with an elevated ALT level. HCV?RNA is present in 86% of the cases positive for anti?HCV. The discrepancy between positive anti?HCV and negative HCV?RNA in some pregnant women suggests that anti?HCV positivity in such cases may merely represent a past HCV infection or a fluctuating viremia. ? 1994 Japanese Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology