Background: Immunoassays are one of the oldest techniques used in diagnostic virology where a number of serologic techniques, with different degrees of sensitivity and specificity, for the detection of HCV antigens and their specific antibodies, have been developed.
Materials and methods: One hundred and four sera samples were collected from National Center for Blood Transfusion, Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases Hospital, Central Public Health Laboratories and Teaching Laboratories. According to the manufacturers practical instructions, many available methods for detecting Anti-HCV antibodies, including enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), immunochromatographic assay (ICA), recombinant immunobloting assay (RIBA), were applied.
Results: Although RIBA test is expensive and little bit laborious, this technique proved to be a powerful laboratory technique with both very high sensitivity and specificity when compared to ELISA, since the latter gave false negative results that were found by RIBA to be repeatedly positive. The ICA test for anti- HCV Abs was found to be a test with a relatively comparable sensitivity and specificity results to EIA / ELISA.
Conclusion: RIBA is a trustful test in big laboratory centers for anti-HCV Abs screening well with or without ELISA test (if a laboratory personnel are feasible to be available and trained for this purpose).The ICA test for anti-HCV, that need no expensive instrumentation, was found as a rapid, simple and cheaper test that could be used with comparable results to ELISA, for mass screening, at least, in rural laboratory centers.
Objective: To determine the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among blood donors and risky population in Diyala province.<br />Materials and methods: In this retrospective study, the records of HCV screening and confirmatory tests were reviewed for the period 1996-2001.Third generation Enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) and Enzyme immunoblot assay were used as screening and confirmatory tests respectively.<br />Results: The prevalence of HCV infection among blood donors was 0.15%, with the highest in 1997. The highest prevalence rates were found among multiple blood recipient; hemophilia, thalassemia and hemodialysis patients (27.3%, 16.9% & 14.3%) respectively. Whereas, the patients with chronic hepa
... Show MoreBackground: Occult Hepatitis B virus infection (OBI) among blood donors is an important medical concern.
Objectives: This study was done to detect the presence of occult hepatitis B virus infections among blood donors with negative hepatitis B surface antigen and positive total anti-hepatitis B core antibodies in Hawler Major Blood Bank in Hawler city/Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Methods: A total number of 12,185 blood donors in Hawler Major Blood Bank were screened for HBsAg and total anti-HBcAb using ELISA technique, and then positive results were retested by confirmatory technique by Chemiluminescence assay. All HBsAg-/HBcAb+ were selected as the study group; HBV DNA was tested among HBsAg-/HBcAb+ by conventional PCR and Real time-
Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) infection is associated with broad spectrum of clinical manifestationsdepending on the immune status of the host, To analyze their possible role in the complication ofautoimmune hepatitis, we investigated (30) female patients with autoimmune hepatitis type-1 of(10-40)years and 25 healthy female of same ages(control groups). Both groups were carried outto measure the levels of EBV-CA IgM, IgG Ab, EBV-EA IgM, IgG Ab, and EBV-NA IgM, IgGAb using indirect immunoflourescent assay (IFAT).The prevalence of EBV-CA IgM, IgG Ab were(10%,20%) and EBV-EA IgM, IgG Ab were (10% and20%) respectively, while the prevalence ofEBV-NA IgG Ab was( 3.33%) and there are no prevalence of EBV-NA IgM Ab. There weresignificant differences (P
... Show MoreObjective(s): To measure serum C-reactive protein (CRP) titer as a predictive diagnosis of acute hepatitis C virus (HCV)
infection.
Methodology: Two hundred and ten patients with acute HCV infection and 234 apparently healthy individuals as
control group were enrolled in this study in Baghdad medical city (Teaching Laboratories). The patents include
74(35.2%) females and 136 (64.8%) males with mean age (27±16.5) years. The control group includes 114 (48.7%)
females and 120 (51.3%) males with mean age (26±5.8) years. Blood samples were collected from out patients from
Alfadul in Baghdad city. Sera were separated and stored at 20 0
C. The diagnosis of acute HCV infection was based on
detection of HC Ag and anti- H
Chronic viral hepatitis is an important health problem in the world, where hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections are the main causes of liver insufficiency. The study included 100 blood samples from patients with chronic viral hepatitis, fifty of them with HBV infection and 50 with HCV infection. Twenty apparently healthy age and gender matched subjects were included as a control group. Out of the 50 patients with HBV, 36(72%) were males and 14(28%) were females. Thirty two (64%) patients with HCV were males and 18(36%) were females. The mean age for HBV patients was 36.9 ± 15.8 year and for HCV patients it was 39.9 ±14.2 year. The results of the liver function tests showed no significant differ
... Show MoreBackground:It is widely assumed that cellular immune response and cytokine (especially proinflammatory cytokines) production play an important role in the course and treatment effectiveness of chronic hepatitis C infection. <br />Aim of the study: evaluate the level of Th-1 cytokines during treatment of chronic HCV infection and their dynamic changes in response to treatment.<br />Patients and methods: The study was performed on sixty patients with chronic HCV infection, the patients were recruited from medical city gastroenterology and hepatology teaching hospital for the period from February 2007 till February 2008 and 50 healthy control group. Diagnosis was made using third generation ELISA-based screening test, RIBA-based
... Show MoreBackground: Globally, hepatitis B is one of the most common infectious diseases. Estimates indicate that at least 2 billion people have been infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV), with more than 378 million people being chronic carriers. Those individuals at higher risk for acquiring HBV and transmitting disease like pregnant women should be screened for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) to prevent transmission by vaccination and operation. Aim of study: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of HBsAg and its associated parameters in pregnant women who referred to antenatal clinic in Baghdad Province. Methods: The 234 apparently healthy pregnant women and their families, husbands and children were se
... Show MoreTo determine the relationship between chronic hepatitis B virus and autoimmune celiac disease, seventy five patients with chronic hepatitis B virus of ages (8-70) years have been investigated and compared to 50 healthy individuals. All the studied groups were carried out to measure anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies IgA and IgG by ELISA test and anti-endomysial antibodies IgA and IgG by IIFT. There was a significant elevation in the concentration of anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies IgA and IgG compared to control groups (P< 0.01) .The prevalence of antiTtG IgA and IgG was 14.67% and 12.0% respectively.There was a highly significant difference (P<0.01) when compared between studied groups .While the prevalence of anti-en
... Show MoreHBV and HCV are the major causes of chronic liver diseases throughout the world, and constitute a major global health risk. There is accumulated evidence that the imbalance of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine production may play an important role in the pathogenesis of viral hepatic infections and may influence the clinical outcome and disease progression. This study was undertaken to analyze the circulating levels of Tumor Necrotic Factor (TNF-α) and Th2 cytokine IL-10 in patients infected with Hepatitis B and C virus. The study population consisted of 30 patients with chronic HBV, in addition to other 30 patients with chronic HCV infection were recruited on their first examination at the Al-Kindy General Hospital in Baghdad
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