Significance of hepatitis C virus (HCV) viremia in anti-HCV antibody (IgG) positive subjects

Introduction: Hepatitis C is one of the most common bloodborne diseases causing significant morbidity and mortality globally. Objective: This study was designed to evaluate the correlation between 3rd generation ELISA positives for anti-HCV antibodies with real time PCR, among various categories of patients attending KIMS hospital. Methods: This is a hospital based retrospective study at KIMS hospital, Secunderabad, India conducted between August 2013 and July 2015. From laboratory data, 115 patients, found to be anti-HCV antibody positive (done by CLIA method) were included in the study. Real-Time Reverse Transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) for hepatitis C virus (HCV) was done for these patient samples subsequently. Results: Among a total of 115 anti-HCV antibody positive cases, 70(60.86%) were positive and 45(39.13%) were negative by HCV RNA PCR. Conclusion: ELISA assays have many advantages in diagnostic settings including ease of automation, ease of use, relative cost effectiveness and low variability. Additional or confirmatory testing like RT-PCR is often helpful. The HCV RNA test is still regarded as a standard in the detection of active infection and for monitoring treatment.