No abstract available.
Hepacivirus* ; Hepatitis C Antibodies* ; Hepatitis C* ; Hepatitis*

According to the reports, the prevalence of anti-HCV is about 1%. In past, the results of the prevalence of HBs Ag & HBs Ab in the patients of Hansen's disease were reported. But we don't know about that of anti-HCV. So we study about the prevalence of serum anti-HCV of 60 patients & PALS of Hansen's disease. And we test about Alk. Phosp., ALT, AST, Gtlc HBs Ag & HBs Ab. 1. The prevalence of anti-HCV is 8.33%. It is higher than past reports(about 1-2%). 2. The prevalence of HBs Ag is 3.4% & that of HBs Ab is 36.3%. 3. Because of the high prevalence of anti-HCV in the patients of Hansen's disease & PALS, we think that more studies are need about it.
Hepacivirus* ; Hepatitis C Antibodies* ; Hepatitis C* ; Hepatitis* ; Humans ; Leprosy ; Prevalence

No abstract available.
Hepacivirus* ; Hepatitis C Antibodies* ; Hepatitis C* ; Hepatitis* ; Prevalence*

BACKGROUND: We evaluated the diagnostic performance of a newly developed Elecsys Anti-HCV II assay in Korean patients. METHODS: A total of 500 serum samples (400 antibody to hepatitis C virus [anti-HCV]-negative and 100 anti-HCV-positive samples) were collected after testing with Elecsys Anti-HCV assay (Roche Diagnostics, Germany). All the samples were tested for anti-HCV by using Vitros Anti-HCV (Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, UK) and Elecsys Anti-HCV II (Elecsys II) (Roche Diagnostics, Germany) assays. Specimens that were found to be positive or negative in all the 3 assays were considered positive or negative for anti-HCV, respectively, and medical records of the patients, including results of previous HCV tests, were reviewed to determine the final results for anti-HCV when there were discrepancies among the results of the anti-HCV assays. RESULTS: Discrepancies between the results of the 3 anti-HCV assays were found for 4 of the 500 samples (0.8%). Sensitivity/specificity values for Elecsys II were 98.0%/100.0%, and the corresponding values for Elecsys and Vitros assays were 100.0%/100.0% and 100.0%/99.5%. Concordance rates between the results of any 2 of the 3 assays were equal or greater than 99.2%, with a kappa coefficient of 0.98 or greater (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Sensitivities and specificities of the anti-HCV assays evaluated in this study were high enough for being used in clinical laboratories, and the results of the 3 assays showed good agreement. However, samples for which weak-positive results were obtained would need to be retested, considering the discrepancies between the anti-HCV assays.
Hepacivirus ; Hepatitis C Antibodies ; Humans ; Medical Records

The rate of HBsAg carriers among blood donors at at Thua Thien Hue province during 5 years (1997 - 2001) is relative high, with 13.57% on average. At the same time, the incidence of HCV infection is lower than other areas (with mean 0.64%). The rate of HBsAg carrier is higher in rural than in Hue city (14.72% vs. 12.27%). The young adults in precincts have higher HBsAg incidence than in other groups.
Blood Donors ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Hepatitis C Antibodies

No abstract available.
Antibodies* ; Hepacivirus* ; Hepatitis C* ; Hepatitis* ; Humans ; Prevalence* ; Renal Dialysis*

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the newly improved third generation enzyme immunoassay kit, LG HCD 3.0TMB (LG Chemical Ltd., Korea) for the detection of antibodies for the hepatitis C virus. METHODS: The 1,068 clinical samples and 3 seroconversion panels were subjected to compare LG HCD 3.0TMB with Ortho HCV 3.0. The discordant clinical samples were confirmed by RT-PCR (Roche Amplicor HCV test) and RIBA (LG HCD confirm, Ortho RIBA HCV 3.0). Reproducibility was estimated using six samples with different anti-HCV levels for each assay. RESULTS: In clinical samples, concordance between LG HCD 3.0TMB and Ortho HCV 3.0 was 98.8% (1,055 of 1,068 tests) in the screening test. After a repeat test of 13 discordant samples, overall concordance was 99.3% (1,061 of 1,068 tests). In the seroconversion panel testing, the LG HCD 3.0TMB detected HCV antibodies earlier than the Ortho HCV 3.0 in one of the three panels. Results of both EIA assays were constant on the reproducibility test. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the good agreement with Ortho HCV 3.0 and superior seroconversion sensitivity, the LG HCD 3.0TMB assay appears to be suitable for detecting HCV antibodies in clinical laboratories.
Antibodies ; Hepacivirus ; Hepatitis C Antibodies* ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Mass Screening

A newly developed third generation enzyme immunoassay(Lucky HCD 3.0 EIA) for hepatitis C virus(HCV) antibodies was added with the envelope(E1E2)/NS4 fusion proteins and expanded NS5 proteins as well as the core/NS3 fusion proteins. Authors evaluated the HCD 3.0 EIA with the previously available second generation EIA(HCD 2.0) in 10,435 Red Cross blood donors. Among 10,435 donors who were screened for the presence of HCV antibodies by HCD 2.0 assay, 22(0.21%) sera were repeatedly reactive. All of these sera were tested for further testing. Only 13 of all tested sera were reactive by HCD 3.0 EIA, and nine sera were not reactive. Nine of 13 HCD 3.0 positive sera were reactive by recombinant immunoblot assay(Lucky-Confirm). Also seven of these 13 sera had detectable HCV genomic RNA by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR). None of nine HCD 3.0 negative samples had detectable immunoblot assay and HCV genomic RNA. It is concluded that the new HCV EIA can decrease a significant false positivity of second generation EIA in a blood donor population. This new assay correlates well with detection of HCV-RNA by RT-PCR and identifies donors who are truly infected.
Antibodies ; Blood Donors* ; Hepatitis C ; Hepatitis C Antibodies ; Humans ; Immunoblotting* ; Red Cross ; RNA ; Tissue Donors

Serum samples from 123 males and 123 females collected by age in 1996 were analyzed for antibodies against surface antigen of Hepatitis B virus and C22-3, C200 antigens of Hepatitis C virus. Sera from the children under the age of 10 showed 30% seropositivity to the surface antigen of Hepatitis B virus, 33.3% in 10~19 year group, 20% in 20~29 year group, 17.6% in 30~39 year group, 3.3% in 40~49 year group, 5.9% in 50~59 year group, 8,3% in 60~69 year group, 2.9% in 70~79 year group, but antibody could not found in 80~86 year group. 12 out of 123 male sera were positive, 19 out of 123 female sera were positive and overall rate of positivity of antibody against surface antigen of Hepatitis B virus was 12.6%. Serum samples from peoples under the age of 30 had not antibody against C22-3, C200 antigens of Hepatitis C virus. The positivity rate was 2.9% in 30~39 year group. 5 out of 30 sera from 40~49 year age group were positive, and 3 positive sera showed extremely high titer (1:524,288) but the titers of two remaining sera were 1:32, 1:8,192 respectively. 5.9% was positive in 50~59 year group, 8.3% in 60~69 year group, 11.8% in 70~79 year group but all negative in 80~86 yea. group. 6 out of 123 male sera were positive (4.9%), 9 out of 123 female sera were positive (7.3%). Overall .ate of positivity of antibody against C22-3, C200 antigen of Hepatitis C virus was 6.1%. None out of 246 sera had both antibodies against Hepatitis B virus and Hepatitis C virus.
Antibodies* ; Antigens, Surface ; Child ; Female ; Hepacivirus* ; Hepatitis B virus* ; Hepatitis B* ; Hepatitis C* ; Hepatitis* ; Humans* ; Male

BACKGROUND: Anti-hepatitis C virus antibody (anti-HCV) assays are recommended for screening HCV-infected persons. The VIDAS Anti-HCV Assay (bioMérieux, France), based on the enzyme-linked fluorescence test principle, was recently introduced in Korea. We evaluated the clinical performance of the VIDAS assay. METHODS: One hundred HCV-positive and 1,002 HCV-negative blood samples confirmed by Architect anti-HCV (Abbott Laboratories, USA) and COBAS TaqMan HCV real-time PCR (Roche Diagnostics, USA) or the Procleix Ultrio Plus Assay (Gen-Probe Incorporated, USA) were obtained from the Human Serum Bank (HSB) and tested by VIDAS. In case of discrepant results, we conducted a recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA). RESULTS: The agreement rates for known HCV-positive and HCV-negative samples between the VIDAS assay and the HSB testing were 100% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 96.4-100%) and 99.5% (95% CI: 98.8-99.8%), respectively. One of the five discrepant samples was positive for Core 2+ and NS3-2 2+ reactivity, two samples were negative, and the other two were indeterminate regarding NS4 2+ reactivity in RIBA. We observed a significant but weak positive correlation between the titers of VIDAS and Architect assays (r=0.315, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The VIDAS anti-HCV assay, developed on the VIDAS automated immunoassay platform based on the ready-to-use, single-sample test concept may be useful in small-to-medium-sized laboratories. It showed good agreement with Architect anti-HCV and COBAS PCR assays and is therefore useful for detection of HCV infection. Weakly test-positive (ambiguous) samples require additional testing by another anti-HCV, RIBA, or HCV RNA assay.
Automation ; Hepatitis C/*diagnosis ; Hepatitis C Antibodies/*blood ; Humans ; *Immunoassay ; Immunoblotting ; Reagent Kits, Diagnostic ; Sensitivity and Specificity