Prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection among female prostitutes in Fukuoka, Japan

To assess the risk of sexual transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV), we surveyed female prostitutes to determine the prevalence of antibody to HCV (anti-HCV) and HCV RNA. Anti-HCV was examined with a second generation anti-HCV test employing a passive hemagglutination assay. HCV RNA was detected by two-stage polymerase chain reaction with primers deduced from the 5'-noncoding region of the HCV genome. All studies were performed in Fukuoka, Japan, from 1989 through 1992 and all subjects were Japanese and had no history of intravenous drug abuse. The prevalence of anti-HCV was significantly higher in the prostitutes (10.1%; 61/604) than in the controls (female blood donors; 0.8%; 52/6632) (P < 0.001), HCV RNA was found in 73.2% of the anti-HCV-positive prostitutes. The prevalence of anti-HCV among prostitutes increased with the number of years spent in prostitution (P < 0.05). Prostitutes with a history of syphilis had a higher prevalence of anti-HCV than those with no history of syphilis, irrespective of the number of pears in prostitution. In a longitudinal study of 244 prostitutes, 2 of the 218 initially seronegative subjects showed anti-HCV and HCV RNA over the study period of 3 years. These two persons had no history of percutaneous exposure. Sexual transmission of HCV presents a risk for female prostitutes.