Objective: To compare the positive rate of antibody to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) in sera of patients with severe viral hepatitis between 1984-1990 year and 1997-2003 year.
Methods: Serum anti-HCV was detected by enzyme linked-immunosorbent assay (ELISA). It was detected by the first generation (1st) ELISA (Ortho Co. USA) in 79 cases of severe viral hepatitis during 1984-1990 year, and it was detected by the second generation (2nd) ELISA (Xiamen Xingchuang Co. China) in 251 cases of severe viral hepatitis during 1997-2003 year.
Results: The positive rate of serum anti-HCV was 51.9% detected by the 1st ELISA in 79 cases of severe viral hepatitis during 1984-1990 year, and it was 1.2% detected by the 2nd ELISA in 251 cases of severe hepatitis during 1997-2003 year (chi2 = 133.68, P </= 0.001).
Conclusion: To compare with the positive rate of serum antibody to hepatitis C virus in severe viral hepatitis detected by the 1st ELISA, it was lower that detected by the 2nd ELISA