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Introduction: The aim of this national, multicenter, cross-sectional, retrospective chart review study was to determine the proportion of patients in Turkey who received hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment after receiving positive anti-HCV results during HCV screening., Methodology: Data related to patients' demographics, laboratory results, time interval from obtaining a positive anti-HCV result to treatment initiation, specialty of the physician requesting anti-HCV screening, and type of hospital were analyzed., Results: Among 1,000 patients who received a positive anti-HCV result, 50.3% were male and 78.5% were screened for HCV-RNA. Among HCV-RNA screened patients, 54.8% (n = 430) had a positive result. Among patients who tested positive for HCV-RNA, 72.8% received HCV treatment in line with their positive anti-HCV results. The median time from obtaining a positive anti-HCV result to initiation of HCV treatment was 91.0 days (interquartile range 42.0 to 178.5). Non-surgical branches requested HCV-RNA testing more frequently than surgical branches (p < 0.001). The rate of access to HCV treatment was higher among patients screened in university hospitals than among patients screened in training and research hospitals (p < 0.001)., Conclusions: Our results indicate a higher rate of treatment initiation among patients with HCV infection than is described in the published literature. Furthermore, the time from screening to treatment initiation was considerably shorter compared with other international studies. However, since HCV-RNA testing was not requested in a significant portion of patients with a positive anti-HCV test result, there might be a large patient population with HCV who do not receive treatment., Competing Interests: Mustafa K Çelen has served as a consultant for AbbVie, Gilead, MSD, Pharmactive, İlko, GSK, and Abdi İbarahim; as a speaker for Gilead, MSD, Pharmactive, İlko, and GSK; and has received research funding from AbbVie, Gilead, MSD, and GSK. Buket Ertürk Şengel has served as a consultant for AbbVie, and has received research funding from AbbVie. Şafak Kaya has served as a consultant for AbbVie; as a speaker for Gilead, Abdi İbrahim, and Pharmactive; and has received research funding from AbbVie. Neşe Demirtürk has served as a speaker for Nobel, Gilead, and Abdi İbrahim; and has received research funding from AbbVie. Alpay Azap has served as a consultant for AbbVie, and has received research funding from AbbVie. Hüsnü Pullukçu has served as a consultant for AbbVie, Gilead, GSK, and MSD; as a speaker for AbbVie, Gilead, GSK, İlko, and MSD; and has received research funding from AbbVie, and Gilead. Esma Eroğlu has received research funding from AbbVie. Figen Yıldırım has served as a consultant for AbbVie, Gilead, GSK, Santa Farma, and İlko; as a speaker for Gilead, GSK, Santa Farma, and İlko; and has received research funding from AbbVie, and Gilead. Hüseyin Ş Barut has received research funding from AbbVie. Esra Zerdali has served as a consultant for Gilead, GSK, and MSD; as a speaker for Gilead, İlko, and GSK; and has received research funding from AbbVie, and Gilead. Ayşe Sağmak Tartar has served as a speaker for Pharmactive, Pfizer, and Astellas; and has received research funding from AbbVie. Ayşe Ö Mete has served as a consultant for AbbVie and Gilead; has served as a speaker for AbbVie, Gilead, Pharmactive, Pfizer, GSK, and Abdi İbrahim; has received research funding from AbbVie, Pfizer, and Neutec; and has received congress participation support from Gilead, and Pfizer. Ahmet M Şahin has served as a consultant and a speaker for AbbVie, and has received research funding from AbbVie. Bedia Mutay Suntur has served as a speaker for Gilead, and has received research funding from AbbVie. Nagehan D Sarı has served as a consultant for AbbVie, and has received research funding from AbbVie. Emel Yılmaz has served as a speaker for AbbVie, İlko, and Abdi İbrahim; and has received research funding from AbbVie. Aslıhan Candevir has served as a consultant and a speaker for AbbVie, Gilead, Pfizer, GSK, Pharmactive, Santa and Farma; and has received research funding from AbbVie, Gilead, Pfizer, GSK, Pharmactive, and Santa Farma. Funda Şimşek has served as a consultant and a speaker for Gilead, and has received research funding from AbbVie. Dilara İnan has served as a consultant for Gilead, GSK, and MSD; as a speaker for AbbVie, Gilead, GSK, İlko, and MSD; and has received research funding from AbbVie. Sıla Akhan has served as a consultant for AbbVie, and has received research funding from AbbVie. Ali Asan has served as a consultant for AbbVie; as a speaker for AbbVie and Gilead; and has received research funding from AbbVie, and Gilead. Özgür Günal has served as a consultant and a speaker for AbbVie, and has received research funding from AbbVie. Onur Ural has received research funding from AbbVie. Mehmet Parlak has received research funding from AbbVie. Mehmet Çabalak has served as a consultant and a speaker for AbbVie, Gilead, MSD, and Pharmactive; and has received research funding from AbbVie. Selçuk Nazik has served as a consultant for AbbVie; as a speaker for İlko; and has received research funding from AbbVie. Kenan Hızel has received research funding from AbbVie. Sami Kınıklı has served as a speaker for Gilead, and has received research funding from AbbVie. Zehra Beştepe Dursun has received research funding from AbbVie. Ayşe Batırel has served as a consultant and a speaker for Gilead, Pfizer, and Santa Farma; and has received research funding from AbbVie. Çiğdem Mermutluoğlu has no conflict of interest to declare., (Copyright (c) 2024 Mustafa K Çelen, Buket Ertürk Şengel, Şafak Kaya, Neşe Demirtürk, Alpay Azap, Hüsnü Pullukçu, Esma Eroğlu, Figen Yıldırım, Hüseyin Ş Barut, Esra Zerdali, Ayşe Sağmak Tartar, Ayşe Ö Mete, Ahmet M Şahin, Bedia Mutay Suntur, Nagehan D Sarı, Emel Yılmaz, Aslıhan Candevir, Funda Şimşek, Dilara İnan, Sıla Akhan, Ali Asan, Özgür Günal, Onur Ural, Mehmet Parlak, Mehmet Çabalak, Selçuk Nazik, Kenan Hızel, Sami Kınıklı, Zehra Beştepe Dursun, Ayşe Batırel, Çiğdem Mermutluoğlu.)

Introduction: The measurement of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA is a test that requires high cost, advanced technique, and qualified personnel. Diagnosis and treatment of patients may be delayed due to the high rate of false-positive results. This study aims to predict true antibody positivity and viremia by determining the most appropriate anti-HCV signal-to-cutoff (S/Co) value reflecting HCV infection., Methodology: The presence of anti-HCV antibodies and HCV RNA levels were examined in 72341 people who applied to the Mengücek Gazi Training and Research Hospital between January 2018 and December 2020. The anti-HCV levels were determined by using the Abbot Architect i2000 SR device (Abbot Diagnostics, Chicago, IL, USA). The levels of HCV RNA were determined in the COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS, TaqMan 48 (Roche, Diagnostics, Pleasanton, USA) devices using serum samples from patients. Our study is a retrospective and methodological study., Results: Of the 150 patients with anti-HCV antibodies, 50 (33.3%) were HCV RNA positive, and 100 (66.7%) were HCV RNA negative. Anti-HCV levels of HCV RNA-positive patients were statistically higher than HCV RNA-negative patients. The most appropriate anti-HCV S/Co value for diagnosing hepatitis C patients was 15.4. The sensitivity of this value was 72%, specificity 88%, positive predictive value (PPV) 73.5%, and negative predictive value (NPV) 86.1%. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was significantly higher than 0.5 (95% confidence interval 0.938-0.827)., Conclusions: Correct approaches can be applied in the diagnosis of HCV infection using the anti-HCV S/Co value found in our study., Competing Interests: No Conflict of Interest is declared, (Copyright (c) 2024 Bülent Dabanlıoğlu, Aysun Yılmaz, Sümeyye Akyüz, Barış Gülhan.)

Introduction: The World Health Organization estimates that 71 million people with chronic HCV infection lived worldwide in 2015. HCV is a globally prevalent pathogen, that genotype1 is the most common. In this study, the prevalence of anti-HCV, distributions of HCV genotype, and viremia rates in patients with chronic hepatitis C were evaluated., Methodology: In this retrospective single-center study, anti-HCV results of 197,081 patients were evaluated between 2017 and 2020. Quantitative HCV-RNA PCR tests were performed on the Rotor-Gene Q real-time PCR instrument. HCV genotypes determination of 546 samples was carried out with the Gen-C 2.0 Reverse Hybridization strip and HCV Genotype Plus Real-TM kit., Results: The prevalence of anti-HCV was 0.95% and viremic HCV infection was 0.3% (610/197,081). HCV viremia rate was 33.17%. HCV viremia rate was highest in 2017 (52.36%) and the lowest in 2020 (18.3%) (p < 0.001). Genotype1 (72%) was the most common genotype, followed by genotype3 (14.1%), and genotype4 (8.8%). The most common subtypes were determined as genotype1b (56.2%) and genotype1a (13.2%). The viral load was higher in patients infected with genotype5., Conclusions: In this study, the rate of viremic HCV infection was found to be 0.3%. This rate was lower than the worldwide rate of HCV viremia. The distribution of HCV genotypes was like the global data. The identification of circulating genotypes and subtypes is essential for epidemiological purposes and remains important in the choice of treatment in patients with chronic HCV., Competing Interests: No Conflict of Interest is declared, (Copyright (c) 2022 Sema Alacam, Ayfer Bakir, Aysel Karatas.)

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of HBsAg, anti-HCV and anti-HIV by evaluating the serologic screening results in blood donors who applied to Transfusion Center of Batman State Regional Hospital between 2008 and 2010. Methods: The donor questionnaire was filled by blood donors ranging between 18-60 years of age, and a physical examination was carried out. The screening tests were performed on non-risk applicants. HBsAg, anti-HCV antibody and anti-HIV 1/2 + p24 antigen tests were performed by using microparticle enzyme immunoassay (MPEIA) (Architect i2000 SR, Abbott, Germany). Results: Routine screening tests were applied to 3316 blood donors. The tests were positive for HbsAg in 64 (1.9%) donors, and in 3 (0.1%) donors for anti-HCV. No HIV seropositivity was found. Conclusions: Seropositivity rate of blood donors admitted to our transfusion center is lower than the general seropositivity rates of Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Anti-HCV antibody level screening is used in the diagnosis of HCV. However, a positive (S/Co > 1) result in the anti-HCV test does not always reflect true positivity. Antibody level results of S/Co ratio > 1 have to be validated through HCV RNA. In this study, we aimed to compare the signal-to-cutoff ratios of patients with positive (> 1) HCV antibody levels with the results of HCV RNA by PCR., Methods: In total, 17,021 samples were tested for anti HCV between January 2017 and December 2019. HCV antibody (anti HCV) was performed with a fully automated chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay (CMIA, Abbot®, Architect System). Real Time PCR test (Anatolia Geneworks HCV, Turkey) was used as nucleic acid amplification method., Results: Of the 17,021 patients, 16,706 (98.15%) tested negative and 315 (1.85%) tested positive in the anti-HCV assay. An additional HCV RNA test was requested for these 315 patients with positive anti-HCV assay results (S/Co ≥ 1) of which 23.81% (75/315) were positive for HCV RNA in serum, with a median (IQR): 5.43 log10 IU/mL (4.75 - 6.01 log10 IU/mL). Patients who tested positive for HCV RNA had significantly higher S/Co values compared to patients who tested negative (median (IQR): 13.38 (12.30 - 14.57) vs. 1.79 (1.34 - 1.79), p < 0.001)., Conclusions: When S/Co ratios of patients who tested anti-HCV positive and HCV RNA positive were evaluated, it was assumed that high S/Co values were more relevant to true positivity. It was also concluded that low S/Co ratios needed to be verified through PCR.

Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is a serious cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality. Coexistent infection with HDV tends to aggravate the course of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated liver disease. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of HDV infection among patients chronically infected with HBV in the Elazig region, which is in eastern Turkey. A group of 282 patients infected with chronic HBV were investigated for the study. Anti-HDV seropositivity was evaluated in all patients. The anti-HDV-positive patients were further tested for HDV RNA. Severity of liver disease was assessed by liver biopsy. Regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between independent variables and HDV positivity. Of 282 chronic HBV patients, 192 were men (68.1%) and 90 were women (31.9%). The mean age was 43.8 ± 12.7 (between 18 and 73 years). Anti-HDV was positive in 45.5% of the patients (128/282). Among the 128 anti-HDV-positive patients, 116 were checked for HDV RNA and 56.9% were found positive (66/116). Chronic HDV infection rate was therefore present in at least 23.4% of the whole study group (66/282). There were 83 patients with cirrhosis (29.4%) in the study group. Anti-HDV seroprevalence and HDV RNA presence were higher in those with cirrhosis (61.4% and 42.2%, respectively). No significant relationship was found between anti-HDV seropositivity and demographic factors such as age, sex and operation or transfusion history except family history. HDV-RNA-positive patients had significantly higher ALT and lower albumin levels when compared to HDV-RNA-negative patients. HDV-RNA-positive patients also had a significantly higher fibrosis stage. In conclusion, these findings demonstrated that HDV infection is endemic and still a serious problem in the Elazig region of eastern Turkey. HDV infection is significantly related to the family exposure and increases the risk of severe liver fibrosis in this region., (© 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)