Hepatitis C Virus Antibodies and Vitiligo Disease

Vitiligo is a common skin disorder, characterized by depigmented patches due to selective destruction of melanocytes. the etiology of this disease is unknown. a number of hypotheses including viral theory have been proposed to explain the etiology. to determine the prevalence of antibody to hepatitis c virus infection in vitiligo patients, the present study was performed. third generation elisa test was used for detection of antibodies to hcv in human sera. all normal controls were anti-hcv negative whereas only one patient was positive for anti-hcv and there was no significant difference in the prevalence of anti-hcv between patients and controls. these results indicate that hepatitis c virus has not a direct causal role in the pathogenesis of vitiligo, however, this does not rul out a hit and run virus induced disease.