Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24019730›Full record

ArticleJournal for scientific research. Medical sciences2003

Laboratory diagnosis of viral hepatitis C: The Sultan Qaboos University Hospital experience.

Said H S Al Dhahry, Jameel C Nograles, Situsekara M W W B Rajapakse, Fadhila S S Al Toqi, Geraldine Z Kaminski

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal for scientific research. Medical sciences, 2003. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Said H S Al DhahryDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, P O Box 35, Al Khod, Muscat-123, Sultanate of Oman.
Jameel C Nograles
Situsekara M W W B Rajapakse
Fadhila S S Al Toqi
Geraldine Z Kaminski

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesA retrospective study was carried out to assess the performance of hepatitis C diagnostic assays in our laboratory, and to determine the prevalence of hepatitis C among blood donors at the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital.

methodsFrom 1991 to 2001, approximately 55,000 serum samples collected from blood donors and patients were submitted to our laboratory for testing. All sera were screened for antibodies to hepatitis C virus (HCV) by three successive generations of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Anti-HCV positive sera were further tested by recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA). Reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for HCV RNA was carried out on a limited number (241) of ELISA positive samples.

resultsOut of 30012 samples from blood donors that were screened for anti-HCV, 272 (0.91%) were positive. Of these, 46.5% were confirmed positive by RIBA. The proportion of patient sera that were confirmed positive varied from 95% among intravenous drug users to 81% in patients with hepatitis to 70% in those with haemoglobinopathies. HCV RNA was detected in 67%, 6%, and 0% of the RIBA positive, indeterminate and negative samples respectively.

conclusionsBased on RIBA, the prevalence of anti-HCV among blood donors in Oman is close to 0.5%. In our experience, RIBA-positivity is predictive of HCV infection in two thirds of subjects, and HCV infection is highly unlikely in those who are RIBA-negative. The experience at SQUH with three types of HCV assays has enabled the laboratory to develop a test algorithm, starting with screening anti-HCV ELISA.

Indexed as

ELISAhepatitis C viruspolymerase chain reactionRIBA

Identifiers

PMID24019730
PMCPMC3174725

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