Outbreak of hepatitis E virus infection in Darfur, Sudan: effectiveness of real-time reverse transcription-PCR analysis of dried blood spots.
Biological samples collected in refugee camps during an outbreak of hepatitis E were used to compare the accuracy of hepatitis E virus RNA amplification by real-time reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) for sera and dried blood spots (concordance of 90.6%). Biological profiles (RT-PCR and serology) of asymptomatic individuals were also analyzed.
Mérens
Audrey
A
National Reference Laboratory for Hepatitis E, Hospital Val-de-Grâce, Paris, France. merens-a@wanadoo.fr
Guérin
Philippe Jean
PJ
Guthmann
Jean-Paul
JP
Nicand
Elisabeth
E