Vidas anti hcv assay

This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in Tripoli, the largest city in the North of Lebanon and the second Lebanese city after the capital Beirut, during July 2016. It includes a total of 171 patients undergoing regular HD in three different hospital HD units: Al Nini (n = 69), Orange Nassau (n = 49) and Al Islami (n = 53). Socio-demographic data of each patient were collected using a questionnaire survey listing their age, sex, educational level and source of drinking water. Patient’s medical records were also used to collect information concerning the onset of starting, frequency and duration of HD as well as possible infections by hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV and HCV). HBV infection was diagnosed by the detection of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBs Ag) using Architect HBsAg assay (Abbott), Vidas HBsAg Ultra (bioMérieux), and ADVIA Centaur HBsAg (Siemens) at Al Nini, Orange Nassau and Al Islami hospitals, respectively. In a similar respective order, infection by HCV was diagnosed by the detection of anti HCV antibodies using Architect anti-HCV assay (IgG/IgM, Abbott), VIDAS anti-HCV assay (IgG, bioMérieux) and ADVIA Centaur HCV assay (IgG, Siemens).

All specimens were tested for anti- HCV antibody with VIDAS Anti-HCV Assay (bioMerieux, France). Anti-HCV positive samples (n = 52) were further tested for HCV RNA using GeneXpert HCV viral load test (Cepheid, Inc., California, USA). The HCV RNA positive specimens (n = 38) were genotyped using HCVg DirectTest (GenMark Diagnostics, Inc., California, USA).