A rapid test for the visual detection of anti-hepatitis C virus antibodies in whole blood

A rapid test for the visual detection of anti-HCV antibodies in whole blood was evaluated in its accuracy when compared with EIA method. The rapid test was performed blind on 50 HCV EIA-positive (adsorbance greater than 3.0) and on 50 HCV EIA-negative samples. Each whole blood sample was 1:20, 1:50 and 1:100 diluted with saline solution for a total of 400 samples. Results showed a sensitivity of 100% when whole blood was tested, 96% when 1:20 diluted blood was tested, 30% when 1:50 diluted blood was tested and 4% when 1:100 diluted blood was tested. The specificity gave also better results and only one false-positive was found in all samples tested. The test took less than 3 min and only a mechanical pipette was required. In conclusion, the HCV Ab rapid test showed a very high accuracy and could be very useful for the detection of HCV-positive subjects in situations where rapid results are required or technical expertise is limited. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science BN. All rights reserved.