To determine the seroprevalence of anti-HCV in Korean blood donors, a comparative study involving 3 current EIAs for anti-HCV were performed in 1,444 blood donors.
Samples were tested by all 3 second generation-EIA methods (Abbott-2, UBI, LuckyHCD), and those showing reactive in at least one method were studied by a combination of 2 confirmatory tests of anti-HCV (RIBA-2 and Liatek).
Among 1,444 blood donors, 26(1.8%) were repeatedly reactive in at least one EIA method.
The positive rate of anti-HCV in a total of 1,444 blood donors was different according to the tested EIA: 0.62% in Abbott-2, 1.25% in UBI, 0.42% in Lucky HCD.
Of 26 EIA reactive donors, only 3 were positive by confirmatory tests. Thus, true reactivtiy of anti-HCV in blood donors was 3(0.21%) in present study.
The sensitivity of all 3 EIAs for anti-HCV was 1005, whereas the specificity was 73.9% in Abbott-2, 32.7% in UBI, and 87.0% in Lucky-HCD.
Overall agreement begtween RIBa-2 and Liatek was 96.2%.
Anti-HCV recognition pattern in 3 RIBA-2 positive donors were C100-3 or/and 5-1-1 and in addition to C22, C33c, respectively.
A RIBA-2 indeterminate person who showed positive against only C100-3 was negative in Liatek test.
Repeated reactive for anti-HCV might be interpreted according to the S/C ratio of each EIA method.
Signal to-cutoff S/C ratio, greater than 2 in Abbott-2 and Lucky-HCD, and greater than 4 in UBI was confirmed to be positive as a whole by confirmatory tests.
These results indicate that less than those value of S/C ratio might be the false positive, and that confirmatory test is necessary for reliable confirmation of anti-HCV by EIA.
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