JIA-HORNG KAOLai M.-Y.Hwang Y.-T.PEI-MING YANGPEI-JER CHENJIN-CHUAN SHEUWang T.-H.Hsu H.-C.DING-SHINN CHEN2021-04-222021-04-2219960163-2116https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84984535815&doi=10.1007%2fBF02208599&partnerID=40&md5=752bee2218b6cdd7bb1595e4f8d8fbd3https://scholars.lib.ntu.edu.tw/handle/123456789/557560To study the clinicopathologic features of hepatitis C viremic patients negative for hepatitis C antibodies (anti-HCV) by current second-generation assay, we categorized 139 consecutive histologically verified patients with chronic non-A, non-B hepatitis into three groups: 121 (87%) were positive for second-generation anti-HCV (group A); 10 (7%) were negative for second-generation anti-HCV but positive for HCV RNA (group B); and 8 (6%) were negative for both antibodies and viremia (group C). Six (60%) of group B patients could be further detected by a new third-generation assay, but none of group C patients was third-generation anti-HCV-positive. The demographic features, mean peak serum alanine aminotransferase levels, HCV genotype distribution, and histologic-changes were comparable among the three groups. The study indicates that most patients with chronic hepatitis C in Taiwan could be identified by current second-generation assay, and viremic but antibody seronegative patients were clinicopathologically similar to the seropositives. Most patients of the latter group could be diagnosed by a third-generation assay, indicating the usefulness of this assay.[SDGs]SDG3hepatitis C antibody; virus RNA; adult; article; chronic hepatitis; controlled study; diagnostic test; female; hepatitis C; human; major clinical study; male; polymerase chain reaction; priority journal; viremiajournal article10.1007/BF0220859985657502-s2.0-84984535815