Hepatitis C virus infection in patients with haematological diseases: evidence for the association with erythrocytes transfusion and liver disease

We analysed hepatitis C virus risk factors in 131 consecutive patients with haematological malignancies (17.6% anti-HCV positive), 42 with connective tissue diseases (30.9% anti-HCV positive) and 1071 (1.1% anti-HCV positive) new blood donors. Anti-HCV was associated with elevated serum ALT levels (P = 0.0001) and with red cells (P = 0.045), but not with platelets and plasma transfusions. HCV presence in immunocomplexes immunoadhering on the erythrocytes might explain the association between HCV infection and red cell transfusion. However, other risk factors have to be implicated in haematological malignancies to explain the high anti-HCV prevalence in patients who did not receive blood products.