RESUMO
To study the association between rheumatoid arthritis and HCV infection. The study included 40 RA patients diagnosed according to the ACR criteria [group I]. It also included 20 inflammatory arthritis patients with RF positive but not fulfilling the criteria for diagnosis of RA [group II]. Ten age and sex matched subjects were taken as controls. Anti HCV antibodies were detected in the sera of these patients. 0.5% of the patients of group I had anti HCV antibodies while 20% of patients of group II had anti HCV antibodies. As regards the control group, none was anti HCV antibody positive. There is a strong association between the presence of anti HCV antibodies and rheumatoid factor that is stronger than the association between anti HCV antibodies and rheumatoid arthritis. Patients with anti HCV antibodies may have rheumatoid factor positive in their serum, but the picture may not fulfill the criteria of RA. Thus in any case of inflammatory arthritis, hepatitis C virus must be put in consideration