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	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

The incidence of chronic urticaria (CU), an idiopathic, heterogeneous condition, is increasing. Despite many studies, there is still uncertainty about the etiology of a large subset of CU.

In the last year or so, 2 French studies of CU have been published in the ARCHIVES,^1-2 both reporting the lack of association between CU and 2 distinct conditions (hepatitis C virus [HCV] infection and hypocomplementemia) previously found to be correlated with CU. We completely agree with both reports.

Passeron et al¹ in the April 2000 issue of the ARCHIVES¹ suggest that evaluation of serum complement levels in CU is of little or no value once the diagnostic criteria of CU are fulfilled. A few months earlier, Cribier et al² stressed that systematic HCV screening in patients with CU is not cost-effective because HCV infection rates are similar to those in the general French population.

We measured serum C3 and C4 levels . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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