Sensitivity and specificity of saliva in estimation of anti-HCV antibodies

This study was done to assess the efficacy of saliva as a screening tool in Hepatitis C infection when collected in a sterile test tube by simple spitting process. Anti Hepatitis C Virus antibodies [Anti-HCV] were detected in salivary samples of patients and healthy controls without using any special salivary collection device. Paired serum and oral fluid collections were obtained from 50 HCV positive cases and twenty five negative individuals. Saliva samples were collected in a sterile disposable plastic test tube by simple spitting of un-stimulated saliva by the study subjects. A modification of the serum HCV ELISA assay was developed to improve test accuracy for an oral fluid substrate. The presence or absence of anti-HCV antibodies in the blood serum was taken as gold standard against which anti-HCV levels in saliva were comparid. Overall sensitivity of saliva to detect Anti HCV antibodies was found to be 94.2% while specificity was 100%. This simple method of oral fluid collection proved to be an effective alternative to special collection saliva can be used as a cost effective screening tool for initial screening of hepatitis C infection in high risk populations

Correlation between hematological parameters and recurrent aphthous stomatitis

Recurrent Aphthous Stomatiitis is a painful oral mucosal lesion affecting about 20% of the world's population. On morphological basis RAS lesions can be divided into three main types including minor RAS [MiRAS], major RAS [MjRAS] and herpetiform RAS [HuRAS]. Eighty five percent of all RAS lesions are Minor in nature. Classification based on severity of the lesion includes simple aphthosis and complex aphthosis. The etiology of the lesion is unknown. Many factors contribute in the Pathogenesis of RAS like inflammatory bowel disease, food allergy, stress, hormonal and immunological disturbances. Vitamin B12, Iron and Ferritin deficiencies. Deficiency of Hematological parameters especially Folate and Vit b 12 causes Megaloblastic anemia which is more common in developing countries. Pakistan is a developing country and nutritional anemia is very common in the country. These nutritional deficiencies cause RAS. The aim of this review is therefore to determine the hematological parameters correlated with recurrent aphthous stomatitis

Percentage of inflammatory cells in recurrent aphthous stomatitis in dental out patient department, Sheikh Zayed federal postgraduate medical Institute, Lahore

The objective of the study was to investigate the stages of recurrent aphthous stomatitis through cytological examination of the lesion which helps in diagnosis and treatment strategies. The study was carried out in Sheikh Zayed Federal Postgraduate Medical Institute, Lahore. It was a Cross sectional Study and was completed within six months. Sixty patients of RAS and 60 controls were recruited to the study. There were 4 subjects having 75% of neutrophils in their smears, while 38 subjects of RAS had 40% of neutrophils and 18 were those who had 50% of these cells in their smear. Forty persent monocytes were present in 46 subjects; remaining 16 subjects had 50% of monocytes in the lesion. Lymphocytes were seen in 40% [53] subjects having the lesions of RAS while only 7 subjects showed the presence of 50% in their lesions. Through cytological examination of the smears of RAS it was concluded that there was increased number of neutrophil cells accumulation in the early [pre-monitory and pre-ulcerative] stages of RAS population