Serological Diagnosis of Hepatitis C Virus in Patients with Liver Disease in Saudi Arabia: Evaluation of Antibody Determination by Recombinant Immunoblot Assays in Relation to RNA Detection by Polymer
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- 作者：Al-Ahdal ; Mohammed N. ; Kessie ; George
- 刊名：Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease
- 出版年：1997
- 出版时间：March, 1997
- 年：1997
- 卷：27
- 期：3
- 页码：69-73
- 全文大小：443 K
文摘
Sera from 164 Saudi Arabian patients with non-A, non-B hepatitis liver disease were examined for antibodies to hepatitis C virus (HCV) by second- and third-generation recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA-2 and RIBA-3) and for HCV RNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). By using RIBA-2, 92 (56.1 % ) were reactive, 64 (39 % ) were nonreactive, and 8 (4.9 % ) were indeterminate. By using RIBA-3, 98 (59.7 % ) were reactive 60 (36.6 % ) were nonreactive, and 6 (3.7 % ) were indeterminate. By using PCR, 108 (65.9 % ) were positive. Of the eight RIBA-2 indeterminate samples, seven became RIBA-3 reactive but PCR-positive, and one became RIBA-3 nonreactive but PCR-negative. Of the six RIBA-3 indeterminate samples, five were RIBA-2 nonreactive but PCR-positive, and one was RIBA-2 reactive but PCR-negative. From our study on Saudi patients, we conclude that RIBA-3 has slightly but not significantly improved the results of anti-HCV antibody detection, and is probably of more value to resolve those indeterminate samples by RIBA-2. Although expensive, PCR remains the most reliable HCV diagnostic method until an HCV antigen detection test is available.