NON-A, NON-B HEPATITIS AND ELEVATED SERUM AMINOTRANSFERASES IN RENAL TRANSPLANT PATIENTS: CORRELATION WITH HEPATITIS C INFECTION

One hundred renal transplant recipients were studied for antibodies to hepatitis C virus (HCV), and to HCV RNA in serum by reverse transcription+nested polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Presence of antibody to HCV confirmed by recombinant immunoblot assay II was considered evidence of HCV infection, and detection of HCV RNA by RT-PCR was considered evidence for active viremia. On pretransplant sera, 18 patients were RT-PCR positive and an additional 3 had antibody evidence of HCV infection. At 1-year follow-up, all of these patients were RT-PCR positive and an additional 7 patients became RT-PCR positive