Rapid point-of-care (POC) testing for Hepatitis C antibodies in a very high prevalence setting: persons injecting drugs in Tallinn, Estonia

Harm Reduction Journal

Anneli Uusküla¹  Ave Talu¹  Jürgen Rannap¹  David M. Barnes²  Don Des Jarlais² 

[1] Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of Tartu, Ravila 19, 50411, Tartu, Estonia;School of Global Public Health, New York University, 665 Broadway, 10012, New York, NY, USA;

关键词: HCV testing;    HCV antibody testing;    HCV POC testing;    HCV RNA testing;    Persons who inject drugs;    PWID;    Estonia;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12954-021-00485-5

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundBetween December 2018 and January of 2019, we evaluated the accuracy of the point-of-care Hepatitis C (HCV) antibody test (POC; OraQuick HCV) used at a community-based needle and syringe exchange program serving persons who inject drugs in Tallinn, Estonia.MethodsWe compared the results of screening for HCV antibodies by OraQuick (oral swab) and enzyme immunoassay (EIA; blood draw) and assessed test results implications in a high prevalence setting.FindingsOf the 100 participants, 88 (88%) had reactive POC test results, and 93 were HCV antibody positive on EIA testing. Sensitivity, specificity and negative predictive value (NPV) for the POC assay with EIA as the relevant reference test were as follows: 94.6% (95% CI 90.0–99.2%), 100% and 58.3% (95% CI 30.4–86.2%). Of the 12 testing, HCV-negative with the POC only 7 (58.3%) were true negatives.ConclusionsOral swab rapid testing HCV screening in this nonclinical setting was sensitive and specific but had unacceptably low NPV. In high prevalence settings, POC tests with high sensitivity and that directly measure HCV RNA may be warranted.

【 授权许可】

CC BY