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Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz
ISSN: 1678-8060 EISSN: 1678-8060
Vol. 98, No. 8, 2003, pp. 1025-1026
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Bioline Code: oc03200
Full paper language: English
Document type: Research Article
Document available free of charge
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Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Vol. 98, No. 8, 2003, pp. 1025-1026
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SHORT COMUNICATION - Risk of Hepatitis C among Brazilian Ex-soccer Players
Francisco José Dutra Souto; Alessandro Gonçalves da Silva & Fábio Yonamine
Abstract
In order to evaluate the significance of injecting vitamins complexes and stimulants minutes before soccer games and its role in spread of hepatitis C virus (HCV) we interviewed and tested 40 ex-soccer players, who played professionally in Mato Grosso, Brazil, between 1970 and 1989. Five players were found anti-HCV positive with enzyme-immunoassay. When re-tested by imunoblot (RIBA), three of these five were confirmed to be positive reacting. The anti-HCV positivity (7.5%) was higher than usually found among blood donors (0.9%) in this region (p < 0.01). None of the players had had prior history of any risk factor that might indicate HCV exposure. We suggest that the common practice of soccer players in the inner part of Brazil in the 70's and 80's, to receive fortifying injections, often with shared syringes, may place ex-soccer players in a potencial risk group for HCV infection and warrants further investigation and attention by public health workers.
Keywords
epidemiology - parenterally-transmitted hepatitis - sports - Brazil
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