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HCV‐Infection in Blood Donors: Association between Anti‐HCV Core IgM Antibodies and Serum HCV RNA
Author(s) -
OunanianParaz A.,
MorelBaccard C.,
Barlet V.,
Gueddah N.,
Schweizer B.,
Bensa J.C.,
Zarski J.P.,
Seigneurin J.M.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
vox sanguinis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.68
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1423-0410
pISSN - 0042-9007
DOI - 10.1111/j.1423-0410.1996.tb01311.x
Subject(s) - antibody , virology , viremia , population , antigen , epitope , polymerase chain reaction , biology , immunology , medicine , gene , biochemistry , environmental health
Among 47 blood donors tested positive with HCV EIA 2.0 Abbott, 27 (57.4%) also reacted with four ‘third‐generation’ EIAs. The presence of anti‐HCV antibodies was confirmed with 3 different immunoblot assays in 16 of 27 sera (34.0%) while 10 samples (21.3%) had indeterminate profile with antibodies usually directed against structural core antigen. Anti‐HCV core IgM response was found in 12 of 47 sera (25.5%) and HCV viremia detected by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) procedure was observed in 15 samples (31.9%). A comparative study of the different markers confirmed a good correlation between a strong antibody response in EIAs and immunoblot assays and the presence of HCV RNA in the serum; only 2 immunoblot indeterminate samples were PCR positive. An association was observed between IgM antibodies against ‘core’ epitopes and HCV RNA carriage: all IgM‐positive sera were found positive by PCR. However, the direct detection of viral genome remains the best method for identifiying HCV carriers in the blood donor population.