[How great is the risk of personal contact in the transmission of hepatitis C virus infection?].

The sexual, household and nosocomial transmission of Hepatitis C virus infection were studied in patients with HCV-RNA positive chronic active hepatitis, confirmed by PCR. Liver function tests and hepatitis C virus serology were performed in family members living in the same household of patients, sexual partners as well as members of the hospital environment in the Department of Hepatology. Fifty-three members of 27 families and 32 staff-members were examined. Quantitative HCR-RNA-PCR and virus serotype of anti-HCV (III.gen.) positive individuals were also identified. Two of the family members turned out to be anti-HCV positive. The husband in one of the married couples was treated for hepatitis of unidentified etiology in an Infectology Department four years ago. His wife was found to have chronic hepatitis C since two years. They both had C virus of serotype 1. The mother and daughter in another family suffered from von Willebrand factor deficiency syndrome. It was documented that they were infected by blood transfusion at different occasions. Their C virus serotypes were different. All the staff members of Hepatology Department were anti-HCV negative. These results confirmed the possibility of the non-parenteral transmission of hepatitis C virus, however, its incidence is very low.