Current Screening Strategy Poses Risk of Spreading of Hepatitis C Virus Infection

Background: Hepatitis C virus is one of the significant causes of morbidity and mortality in the World. Surprisingly, despite national screening campaigns, new cases of HCV are still on the rise. Methods and Results: A total of 5914 healthy blood donors was included in this study after informed consent. Anti-HCV ELISA was used to check presence of antigen in participant’s plasma.using Monlisa HCV Antigen-Antibody Ultra kit. Final confirmation was done by using real time PCR considered as a gold standard. Results: 0.5% of anti-HCV ELISA negative samples showed presence of antigen in plasma, when checked through core Ag detection method. Conclusion: Our result suggested that HCV core antigen detection and/or combo testing are far safer screening methods for the detection of HCV and the use of these methods can avoid/reduce further spread of this deadly disease.