Performance characteristic comparison of two commerical kits for anti-HCV confirmatory test

Objective To detect anti-HCV in serum of hepatic disease patients by performing the confirmatory test, and further to confirm HCV infection. Methods Two recombinant immunoblot assays (CWT and CHIRON RIBA HCV 3.0 Strip Immunoblot Assay) were used respectively to detect anti-HCV in 477 human serum samples, which comprised 350 HCV-infected patients' specimens, 7 none-A none-E hepatitis specimens, 30 HBV-infected patients' specimens, 30 hepatitis E virus infected patients'specimens, and 60 specimens drawn from blood donors. The latter three groups served as controls. Results A total of 120 control non-HCV-infected patients' specimens were negative when tested by both assays. Among 350 HCV-infected patients, 341 were positive and 9 were indeterminated by CWT assay; 343 were positive and 7 were indeterminated by CHIRON RIBA HCV 3. 0 SIA. Seven none-A none-E hepatitis specimens tested by both assays turned out to be 2 positive, 4 negative and 1 indeterminate. The consistency rate of these two assays was 99. 16% (Kappa=0.98). Conclusion CWT assay is highly coherent with CHIRON RIBA HCV 3.0 SIA assay in the methodology of anti-HCV antibody detection, which can be applied in the determination of HCV infection among none-A none-E hepatitis patients.