ArticleJournal of the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada = Journal officiel de l'Association pour la microbiologie medicale et l'infectiologie Canada2022
HCV reflex testing: A single-sample, low-contamination method that improves the diagnostic efficiency of HCV testing among patients in Alberta, Canada.
Article in Journal of the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada = Journal officiel de l'Association pour la microbiologie medicale et l'infectiologie Canada, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Risk assessment and mitigation of hepatitis C virus RNA carryover contamination in a reflex testing algorithm.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2026Article
- Review
- Health care providers' perspectives on barriers and enablers to providing hepatitis C screening and treatment for immigrants in Canada: A theory-informed qualitative study.Canadian liver journal · 2026Article
- Care strategies for pregnant people and women living with hepatitis C in North America.AJOG global reports · 2026Article
- Optimizing hepatitis C virus testing in the era of point-of-care RNA diagnostics.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2026Article
- Cost-effectiveness of Alternative Approaches to Hepatitis C Diagnosis and Treatment Initiation for Treatment-naive People Who Inject Drugs in Australia: A Model-based Economic Evaluation.Open forum infectious diseases · 2025Article
- A scoping review on HCV screening strategies: population to screen and the test types.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Article
- The effect of first-wave COVID-19 restrictions on HCV testing in Alberta, Canada: A trend analysis from 2019 to 2022.Canadian liver journal · 2024Article
- Prevention, testing, and treatment interventions for hepatitis B and C in refugee populations: results of a scoping review.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Article
- CHIME - A tailored HCV microelimination project in Viennese people who inject drugs at drug centralized substitution centers.Journal of virus eradication · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHepatitis C virus (HCV) can be cured with antiviral treatments. Diagnosis normally requires two blood samples, one for serology screening and one for molecular confirmation. This multi-step process creates barriers in patient care and decreases testing for hard-to-reach populations. We used the cobas® 6800 to detect HCV RNA after antibody testing to investigate whether a single-sample reflex testing method is effective and efficient for diagnosing HCV-positive patients.
methodsHCV RNA-positive clinical samples (
resultsContamination was present in 5 of 152 pairs (3.29%) after reflex testing. Sensitivity and specificity were 99.3% (95% CI 95.1% to 99.9%) and 100% (95% CI 97.5% to 100%), respectively, using the cobas 6800 assay after serotesting. Approximately 97% of clinical patients received a conclusive test result with the reflex-testing algorithm. For HCV-positive patients, mean diagnostic turnaround times were significantly lower using reflex testing versus the two-sample method (4 versus 39 days;
conclusionsHCV reflex testing demonstrated low levels of contamination without compromising the integrity of the molecular assay. Implementation in clinical laboratories would increase the efficiency of diagnosis and decrease steps in the continuum of care for patients.
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