The changing epidemiology of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in haemodialysis: European multicentre study.

Background: The high prevalence of anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies in HD patients has been known since the early 1990s but its evolution over the last decade is poorly documented.

Methods: All chronic HD patients from 15 Belgian units were tested at (re)start of HD and every 18 months for anti-HCV antibodies (ELISA 2 in May 1991 and November 1992, then ELISA 3 until May 2000). All chronic HD patients from HD units from eight other European countries, whose prevalence of anti-HCV (+) patients had been studied in 1991-1994 (and published except in one country), were tested for anti-HCV antibodies in 1999.