BMJ 1994;308:856 (26 March)

Letters

Infection with hepatitis C virus

New generation of assays should improve screening

Editor,--A recent editorial discussed screening for hepatitis C virus infection.1 During the first eight months of screening for hepatitis C virus in the Oxford region 83 177 units of blood (from 70 700 donors) were tested with the Ortho second generation enzyme linked immunoassay. These reactions were repeatedly positive in 358 (0.5% of all donors), and these were referred to the virology department for confirmation by the second generation recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA-2, Ortho) and Murex BCJ11 enzyme linked immunoassay (with non-structural 5 and core antigens). Thirty nine samples (0.05% of all donors) were confirmed to be positive, reacting in both additional tests; 243 were negative, reacting with neither test; and 76 were discrepant.

The samples with discrepant results were further analysed at Murex Diagnostics by western blotting (with non-structural 3, 4, and 5 and core antigens) and three further enzyme linked immunoassays . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Asymptomatic infection with hepatitis C virus
C A Seymour
BMJ 1994 308: 670-671. [Extract] [Full Text]

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