ABSTRACT
The purpose of the study was to elucidate whether hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA was present in the blood of patients from a Moscow therapeutic-and-prophylactic institution with uncertain results of a study of anti-HCV that were obtained using the algorithm developed for mass screening. The two-stage scheme of testing the serum for anti-HCV, which was obligatory in accordance with the Order of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, was supplemented by a study the samples having a low optical density samples and those with controversial results in the test systems with the expanded spectrum of detectable anti-HCV, the instructions of which comprises criteria for an uncertain result. Sera with uncertain results of anti-HCV tests were assessed by two polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques for HCV RNA. The cDNA fragments complementary to HCV RNA were detected in the sera obtained from two elderly persons in PCR when a signal was recorded in agarose gel. The other real-time PCR failed to detect RNA in none sera with an uncertain result as to anti-HCV.
