A comparative study of two third-generation anti-hepatitis C virus ELISAs.
The sensitivity and specificity of two third-generation screening tests for the detection of antibody to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) was evaluated in a side-by-side study (Abbott HCV EIA 3.0/Ortho HCV ELISA 3.0). Specimens that were reactive in either ELISA were then retested by the other ELISA, and confirmed by RIBA-3. The screening of 15,540 serum samples from healthy blood donors showed a significantly lower number of reactive cases tested by Ortho (21 out of 8,805, 0.24%), than tested by Abbott (35 out of 6,735, 0.52%). In the side-by-side comparison, we found that significantly (p = 0.005) more Ortho-positive samples were also reactive in Abbott (14/21, 66.6%), than in Abbott followed by Ortho (7/35, 20%). Moreover, the RIBA analysis revealed a significantly (p = 0.014) higher number of RIBA-positive specimens among those reactive in Ortho 10/21 (47.6%), than among those reactive in Abbott 6/35 (17.2%), thus the former provides a greater positive predictive value. However, we did not observed differences in the sensitivity between Abbott and Ortho, because all RIBA-positive samples demonstrated reactivity in both ELISAs.
Ferrer
F
F
Hematology-Hemotherapy Unit, School of Medicine, Centro Regional de Hemodonación, Murcia, Spain.
Candela
M J
MJ
Garcia
C
C
Martinez
L
L
Rivera
J
J
Vicente
V
V
D001782:Blood Donors; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies