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

ABSTRACT

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