Yup, folks, HCV RNA IS in about 30% of patient's saliva.

BUT, bear in mind, that YOU need BLOOD-TO-BLOOD contact.

So no deep tonsil-hockey, after you BOTH brush your teeth! Gums bleed, remember...

Please NOTE the end of this article, regarding publicly-shared razors in barbershops...
Love,
Menolly

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HEPATITIS C - TRANSMISSION BY TOOTHBRUSHES: A MYTH OR A REAL POSSIBILITY?

Reported by Jules Levin

Guntram Lock, Martin Dirscherl, Florian Obermeier, Cornelia M. Gelbmann, Claus Hellerbrand, Antje Knoell, Juergen Schoelmerich, Wolfgang Jilg, Regensburg,
Germany

Introduction: Up to 40% of patients with chronic hepatitis C have no obvious risk factor for the disease. Unconventional ways of transmission such as for example infection by tattooing or sharing of possibly infected household
objects have been discussed to play a role for these community acquired forms.

Thus, patients with hep. C are advised to take care not to share objects like razors, nail-scissors or toothbrushes with their household members. In this study, we prospectively examined the contamination of toothbrushes in patients
with chronic hep. C as a model for a possible unconventional way of transmission.

Patients and methods: 30 consecutive patients with chronic hep. C were included in the study. Around 2 ml of saliva were obtained before and after brushing the teeth under controlled conditions for 2 minutes. After toothbrushing, the toothbrush was rinsed in 2 ml of NaCl. RNA was isolated with the QIAmp Viral RNA mini Kit (Qiagen) and HCV-RNA was detected by the COBAS AMPLICOR HCV - Test v2.0. Results were qualitatively graded as positive or negative. Oral hygiene was classified as good, fair or bad, and the parodontose bleeding index (PBI)
was determined by a dentist. Clinical, biochemical and histological parameters were related to the HCV results in saliva and toothbrush rinsing water.

Results: In 9/30 patients (30%), the "native" saliva (i.e. before toothbrushing) was positive for HCV-RNA, and in 11/29 patients (37.9%) saliva after toothbrushing contained HCV - RNA. In as many as 12/30 (40%) specimen of the rinsing waters of the toothbrushes HCV - RNA was positive. In 6 of these 12 patients, the "native" saliva had been negative for HCV RNA. Patients with HCV - RNA positive toothbrush rinsing water showed no significant differences to patients with HCV RNA negative rinsing water in respect to oral hygiene, PBI,
histological grading or staging, coagulation parameters, ALT, bilirubin and quantitative HCV - viral load in the serum.

Conclusion: With sufficiently sensitive methods, a contamination with HCV-RNA can be detected at a large portion of toothbrushes used by hep. C patients. In
spite of the low infection risk usually published for household contacts, transmission by contaminated every-day`s household objects appears to be possible. Considering the great epidemiological importance of hep. C, further
examinations and maybe even legal instructions concerning publically used possibly infected objects such as razors in barbershops appear indicated.

Yet another study on the presence of Hep C in saliva.

The GOOD news is that this study was testing a particularly virulent substrain (genotype) found in Egypt. The BAD news is that it was found in 94% of patients' saliva.

The OTHER GOOD news is, that perhaps a salvia based test can be devised, in order to do MASS-TESTING of high-risk polulations (such as prison populations).

Love,
Menolly

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HIGH PREVALENCE OF HEPATITIS C VIRUS RNA IN SALIVA OF PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC HCV
INFECTION.



Kabil SM, *Salwa M Youssef, Atta MME, **Nawar MA, Abdou SA, Asal A and Nassar
AK.

Department of Hepatology, Gastroenterology & Infectious Diseases, University of Benha, *Department of Clinical Pathology, University of Ain Shams and **Department of Tropical Medicine, University of Menoufia, Egypt.



Abstract

In 58 patients with chronic active hepatitis, 38 cases (65.5%) showed positive sera for HCV-RNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and 20 were negative. All patients were screened for the presence of HCV-RNA in saliva by a nested PCR.

Among the 38 cases with HCV, 36 were saliva-positive (94.7%) with a 100% specificity. For the same group, second generation ELISA and RIBA testing scored 92.1% and 100% sensitivity, 25% and 70% specificity, respectively. Statistically significant correlation between saliva positivity and
histopathological evidence of disease activity was found.

It was concluded that the high prevalence of salivary excretion of the virus might be an attribute of the genotype prevalent in Egypt with profound impact on epidemiological aspects of the disease, particularly the so called community
acquired infection. It was also suggested that testing of saliva for HCV infection is a safe, convenient and reliable method of mass screening programs and monitoring of disease activity.