title: New approaches to in vitro diagnosis of hepatitis C infection a reason for post transfusion hepatitis: Diagnostic value of determination of hepatitis C virus core antigen.
abstract: In between the dates of February 2008-March 2009, by applying to Istanbul University CTF Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology Basic Sciences Branch and Duzen laboratories, 123 cases, where HCV RNA and anti-HCV positivity are identified with molecular (real-time PCR) and serologic (ELISA) methods as a positive control group, and 48 cases where HCV RNA and anti-HCV negativity are identified as a negative control group are established. The values of sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative approximation of recently developed HCV Core Ag (Abbott Diagnostics, Germany) kit are determined successively as 94.3%, 97.9%, 99.1%, 87%, 95.3% and 88%. Although the new HCV Ag assay is clearly not sensitive enough to replace HCV NAT it may serve as a valuable tool in the HCV diagnostic algorithm as it is able to pick up a great majority of anti-HCV and HCV RNA positive samples, thus allowing a timely and less expensive serological diagnosis of an active HCV infection. This may be an advantage for labs that do not have access to PCR easily.
authors: Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology Department, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Kocamustafapasa, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors: Pelin
authors: P
authors: Yuksel
authors: Reyhan
authors: R
authors: Caliskan
authors: Sevgi
authors: S
authors: Ergin
authors: Mustafa
authors: M
authors: Aslan
authors: Deniz Gozde
authors: DG
authors: Celik
authors: Suat
authors: S
authors: Saribas
authors: Tevhide
authors: T
authors: Ziver
authors: Altan
authors: A
authors: Yalciner
authors: Bekir
authors: B
authors: Kocazeybek
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000635:transmission; D018936:Hepatitis C Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D018936:Hepatitis C Antigens; D012367:RNA, Viral