Prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) was determined in 190 adults (mean age 40.4 years; range 15 to 75) with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) who are on regular hemodialysis in the Nephrology Unit, Riyadh Central Hospital. The overall prevalence rate was 53.7% (48.7% and 61.0% in Saudi's and expatriates, respectively). These figures are considerably higher than the figures of 34.8% reported from hemodialysis units in Riyadh, 20% in Spain, 5.5% in Germany, and 1% in the United Kingdom. The possible reasons for the high prevalence of this marker of HCV in our hemodialysis unit are considered and suggestions made for its control.

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The prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) has been measured in 113 Saudi patients with chronic liver diseases. Twenty-five percent of 20 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were positive for anti-HCV and 29.7% of 38 patients with cirrhosis and 27.3% of 33 patients with liver fibrosis, respectively, also tested positive. The positivity rate for a miscellany of liver diseases (22) was 13.6%. The differences between these prevalence rates were not statistically significant. By comparison, 45% of HCC tested positive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) while 52.7% of cirrhosis cases were positive. These rates were statistically significant when compared with HBsAg positivity rates of 9.1% and 18.2% in the liver fibrosis and miscellaneous groups. The role of hepatitis C virus (HCV) may be secondary or additive in the causation of chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma in this environment in which hepatitis B virus (HBV) is highly endemic.YM Fakunle, M Al-Mofarreh, AZ El-Drees, WM El-Karamany, HO Ezzat, MN Ballesteros, MZ Khawaji, Prevalence of Antibodies to Hepatitis C Virus in Saudi Patients with Chronic Liver Disease. 1991; 11(5): 497-500 Chronic hepatitis B virus infection and schistosomiasis are the leading etiological agents of chronic liver disease (CLD) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [1,2, Fakunle et al (in press)]. The prevalence of HBsAg in cirrhosis (CH) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is high [3,4]. The assessment of the contribution of non-A, non-B hepatitis viruses [NANB] to the etiology ofacute and chronic liver disease and HCC has been hampered by lack of specific markers for these agents. Epidemiological data, however, suggests there are at least 3 distinct agents responsible: the water-borne epidemic non-A, non-B [5,6], the sporadic enterically transmitted [7,8], and the post-transfusion (parenterally transmitted or community acquired) non-A, non-B hepatitis. This latter virus called hepatitis-C has been cloned and assays developed for its antibody and antigen [9,10]. Acute non-A, non-B hepatitis is often mild but a variable proportion of patients develop chronic infection [11][12][13] which, in some cases, leads to cirrhosis and HCC [14,15]. That non-A, non-B can lead to HCC was demonstrated by the experimental induction of HCC in a chimpanzeeafter infection for 6 years with non-A, non-B [16]. Further support was provided by several case reports of HCC developing in patients with chronic NANB hepatitis [14,17]. Recent reports also show increased prevalence of anti-HCV in patients from Spain and Italy with HCC which developed on cirrhosis of alcoholic and other etiologies [18,19]. We report a study of the prevalence of antibodies to HCV in Saudi patients with CLD and compared the results with prevalences of HBsAg and anti-HBC in the same patients. Prevalence of Antibodies to Hepatitis C Virus in Saudi Patients with Chronic Liver DiseaseAnnals of Saudi Medicine, Vol 11 No. 5; 1991 Patients and MethodsOne hundred thirteen adults who presented at the ...