Prevalence, genotypes and antibody titer of hepatitis C virus in pregnant women in Taiwan.

Abstract

To investigate the prevalence and genotypes of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in pregnant women in Taiwan, as well as to examine whether any correlation occurs between HCV genotype and anti-HCV titer. Forty-three pregnant women with positive anti-HCV and HCV-RNA were selected among 3,400 cases screened from January 1992 to March 1994. Each blood specimen was assayed for HCV genotypes by PCR method to detect HCV I, II, III and IV. Anti-HCV titer was determined by a second-generation EIA kit with serial dilutions. Twenty-eight cases (65%) belonged to HCV II, 11 (26%) HCV III, 3 (7%) HCV IV and 1 (2%) HCV II+III. Besides, the anti-HCV titers in HCV II and HCV III groups were similar, ranging from 8x to 40,000x and revealing no statistical significance (p = 0.75). Our data have verified that the prevalence rate of HCV infection in pregnant women is around 1.3% and no significant difference of anti-HCV titer occurs between HCV II and HCV III pregnant women.