IJCRR - 7(16), August, 2015
Pages: 09-13
Date of Publication: 21-Aug-2015
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HEPATITIS C VIRUS: SCREENING, DIAGNOSIS, AND INTERPRETATION OF LABORATORY ASSAYS
Author: Amit H. Agravat, Mital J. Gamit, Gauravi A. Dhruva, Kaushal R. Bhojani, Krupal M. Pujara
Category: Healthcare
Abstract:Background: All blood and blood products should be tested for Hepatitis C virus (HCV) before transfusion to decrease prevalence of HCV.
Aim and Objective: The aim of present study is to determine the prevalence of hepatitis c virus (HCV) and to check the accuracy of our laboratory analysis used for HCV testing of blood donors in our blood bank.
Material and Methods: The duration of this study is of 2 year since April 2013 to March 2015. All donors are screened during counselling. The blood sample of Total Donor 26,789 including voluntary and replacement were tested for anti HCV antibody by
3 rd generation ELISA (QUALISA).Samples which are reactive or in gray zone were retested by ELISA and also confirmed by
rapid HCV card.
Results: From total donor 26,789, positive for the HCV were 45 (0.16%). Out of 45, 42 (93.3%) were male, 3(6.6 %,) were female positive. 25 (55.5%) were voluntary and 20 (44.4%) were replacement. Maximum donors come under the age group of
21-30 and 31 -40 and 22 (48.8%) were B RhD positive subjects found.
Conclusion: The prevalence of HCV infection is mild (0.16 %) in blood donors in blood bank of PDU medical college and hospital,
Rajkot. The prevalence is equal in voluntary and replacement donors. Males are more infective than female.
Keywords: HCV infection, Anti HCV antibody, Blood donors
Full Text:
INTRODUCTION
Hepatitis C was first detected in 19891 , and it has been described as a significant causative agent of post transfusion non A non B chronic hepatitis². HCV may remain latent or become activated, leading to persistent infections and in some case cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma ³. HCV is most commonly transmitted through direct contact with infected blood4 .Other routs of transmission include unsafe injection practice, mother to child transfer injection drug use5 . The impact of this infection is emerging in India. The mainstay in diagnosing infection with HCV is to initially screen high risk groups for antibodies to HCV (anti-HCV). Virological diagnosis of HCV infection is based on two categories of laboratory tests, namely serologic assays detecting specific antibody to HCV (anti-HCV) (indirect tests) and assays that can detect, quantify, or characterize the components of HCV viral particles, such as HCV RNA and core antigen (direct tests). This article aims to give overview of emerging infection in India discussing the screening, diagnosis and interpretation of available assay.
MATERIAL AND METHOD
This study was conducted at department of pathology, PDU medical college and Rajkot. The duration of this study is of 2 year since April 2013 to March 2015 .Total donors during this period were 26,789. A blood donor is offered an option to know his TTI status at the time of registration for blood donation after due counseling and give consent for the same. After blood donation blood sample is collected in plain vaccutte at the end of phlebotomy for pre transfusion testing .The sample is allowed to clot to separate serum. The test is done by using 3 rd generation ELISA kit( QULISA, manufactured by Tulip diagnostic pvt.ltd.) and manufacturer’s instructions were strictly followed while performing each assay samples found reactive or in gray zone were retested by the same kit and also confirmed by the rapid HCV card(RECKON, manufactured by reckon diagnostic pvt.ltd.)
RESULT
From total donor 26789, positive for the HCV were 45 (0.16%),out of 45, 42 (93.3%) were male, 3(6.6%,) were female.25 (55.5%) were voluntary and 20 (44.4%) were replacement. Maximum donors come under the age group of 21-30 and 31-40. Out of 45, 22 (48.8%) were B RhD positive.
DISCUSSION
In our study, 45 donors were HCV positive out of 26,789. Comparison of our study with the study done in different part of Gujarat is given below: It is observed that male donors are more positive than female as same study done at Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma, NiWe found that there is no major difference between voluntary and replacement donor. In in study of Nigeria6 replacement donors were more frequent (63%) than voluntary donors. In our study HCV positive largest age group is 31-40 year while in study of Nigeria largest age group found was 21-30 year. In a study conducted in Germany,7 it was observed that HCV-infected women were significantly more often Rhesusnegative than men. On the other hand, a more recent study in the United States of America.8 found no association between blood groups and HCV. The previous study found that antiHCV results correlated with age and sex whereas the latter study did not find any significant association of HCV with either age or sex. In study of Nigeria most of positive donor were HCV positive as shown below table. In our study most of the B positive donors are HCV positive.
CONCLUSION
Screening of blood donors for HCV can efficiently exclude those donors who are persistent low level carrier, those in the window period of acute infection. The study suggests that despite testing of bloo
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