Seroepidemiologic HGV in blood donors haemodialysis patients, haemophiliacs and major beta thalassemics with history of liver disease

The prevalence of GBV-C and HGV in blood donor populations in developd countries based on HGV detection and anti-E2 screening ranges from 1 to 5 and 3 to 14% respectively. The aim of this study was to investigate seroepidemiologic hepatitis G virus [HGV] in blood donors, heamodialysis patients, hemophiliacs, and beta thalassemics with a history of liver disease by Elisa technique. In this descriptive study, blood samples of 330 volunteer blood donors, 44 heamodialysis patients, 16 haemophiliacs, and 40 beta major thalassemics with a history of liver disease were studied by Elisa technique for their seroepidemiologic status of hepatitis G virus and their past record HGV infection. For data analysis, Ch-square, Fisher exact test, and SPSS version 11.5 were used. This study showed that out of 330 healthy blood donors 14[4.2%], out of 44 heamodialysis patients 10[22.7%], out of 16 haemophiliacs 5 [30.3%] and out of 40 beta thalassemics 10 [25%] were positive for HGV-anti-E2. These data are significant evidence for HGV to be considered as a transfusion-transmitted infection. The prevalence of anti-HGV and anti-HCV [co-infection] was found to involve 10 [30.3%] of heamodialysis patients, 4 [28.6%] of haemophiliacs and 9 [23.7%] of beta thalassemics. It was also found that 1 [8.3%] of heamodialysis patients, 1 [33.3%] of haemophiliacs, and 1 [50%] of beta thalassemics were infected with anti-HGV and HBsAg co-infection. The prevalence of HGV was high in multitransfused individuals including heamodialysis patients, haemophiliacs, and thalassaemics. Therefore, HGV was a transfusion-transmittable agent. Co-infection of anti-HGV with HCV was observed in viruses. It is recommended that further studies focus on evaluating sexual and vertical transmission routes so as to cast light on relatively high rate of HGV in donor population

Relative sensitivity of third generation hepatitis C virus antibody detection assays: evaluation of 20 kits

The most important challenge in selecting suitable assays for the detection for the anti-HCV is sensitivity. In this study, 20 assays [EIA method] were compared with each other and with anti-HCV 3.0 Enhanced SAV [Ortho Company Production] as the reference assay recommended by WHO. 20 kits were compared by 3 to 4 serconversion and 2 to 3 performance panels. The relative sensitivity of kits was calculated based on WHO recommendations. In seroconversion relative sensitivity of 3 assays was the same as the reference assay and 5 assays showed lower relative sensitivity, but the differences between these five kits and the reference assay appeared just in two samples. In performance panels, two assays came out to be the same as the reference assay and the other 5 assays detected just 2 samples to have a level lower than anti-HCV 3. In all seroconversion and performance panels, the best results were obtained by ETI-AB-HCH-K4 [146] [Diasorin], Monalisa Anti-HCV plus Version 2 [BIO-RAD], Hepanostica Anti-HCV ULTRA [BIOMERIEUX], Anti-HCV-EIA 3rd [Avicenna Medial Center], and HCV AB [DIA PRO]. For improvement of blood safety, the assay with high sensitivity is recommended to be used, and the samples with weak positive reactions especially in seroconversion and low titer performance panels should be given more attention