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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
immunology and microbiology
Poor performance of hepatitis C antibody tests in hospital patients in Uganda
Journal of Medical Virology, Volume 82, No. 8, Year 2010
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Description
Most hepatitis C testing in Uganda is performed using commercial rapid strip assays (RSA) to detect antibodies to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV), rather than enzyme immunoassays (EIA). The prevalence of hepatitis C antibodies in a Ugandan hospital population was determined using both methods to test their accuracy using nucleic acid testing (NAT) as a reference. Sera from 380 consecutive hospitalized Ugandan patients were tested for anti-HCV using an RSA in Uganda, with subsequent automated third-generation EIA testing in the United States, followed by NAT. Recombinant immunoblot assays (RIBA) were used as a supplementary test to detect anti-HCV epitopes. Overall, anti-HCV was detected in 48/380 (13%) by one or both antibody tests. Anti-HCV was detected in 19 (5.0%) patients by RSA and in 33 (8.7%) patients by EIA; only four patients were anti-HCV positive by both methods. Fourteen of the 48 anti-HCV positive patients had detectable serum HCV RNA, 7 each by bDNA assay or by PCR. RSA detected only 7 of 14 HCV RNA positive sera. Of 29 RNA negative but anti-HCV positive patients tested by RIBA, only two were anti-HCV positive; 27 were anti-HCV negative or indeterminate. Anti-HCV testing by RSA and/or EIA was neither sensitive nor specific for detection of ongoing HCV infection in hospitalized Ugandan patients. Our findings underscore the importance of confirmatory nucleic acid testing, which, despite its increased cost, appears essential to manage African patients with HCV. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Authors & Co-Authors
Seremba, Emmanuel
Uganda, Kampala
School of Medicine, Makerere University College of Health Sciences
Ocama, Ponsiano
Uganda, Kampala
School of Medicine, Makerere University College of Health Sciences
Opio, Christopher Kenneth
Uganda, Kampala
School of Medicine, Makerere University College of Health Sciences
Thomas, David L.
Uganda, Kampala
School of Medicine, Makerere University College of Health Sciences
Yuan, Hejun Juan
United States, Baltimore
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Attar, N.
United States, Dallas
Ut Southwestern Medical School
Lee, William Martens
United States, Dallas
Ut Southwestern Medical School
Statistics
Citations: 35
Authors: 7
Affiliations: 3
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1002/jmv.21817
ISSN:
01466615
e-ISSN:
10969071
Research Areas
Health System And Policy
Infectious Diseases
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Locations
Uganda