Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Correlation between detection of antibodies against hepatitis C virus in oral fluid and hepatitis C virus RNA in serum

  • Concise Article
  • Published:
European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Reported here are the results of a study designed to determine the correlation between hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA positivity in serum and the detection of antibodies against HCV in oral fluid by testing paired serum/oral fluid samples. For the 85 serum samples found positive for antibodies against HCV, using a screening assay and a confirmation assay, 70 of the corresponding oral fluid samples tested positive for HCV antibodies using a previously modified screening assay. For 52 of the 59 serum samples found positive for HCV RNA, the corresponding oral fluid samples also tested seropositive for HCV, while 18 of the 26 serum samples that were negative for HCV RNA had corresponding oral fluid samples that tested seropositive for HCV. For the control group of 54 serum samples that were negative for HCV antibodies, all of the corresponding oral fluid samples were also negative for HCV antibodies, while 53 of the serum samples tested negative for HCV RNA. These results suggest that HCV antibody detection in oral fluid has a slightly higher sensitivity when used to test patients whose serum samples are positive for HCV RNA (chi-square test, p=0.035; Mid-P exact, p=0.049).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Sherman KE, Creager RN, O’Brien J, Sargent S, Piacentini S, Thieme T (1994) The use of oral fluid for hepatitis C antibody screening. Am J Gastroenterol 89:2025–2027

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Bello PY, Pasquier C, Gourney P, Puel J, Izopet J (1998) Assessment of a hepatitis C virus antibody assay in saliva for epidemiological studies. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 17:570–572

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Cameron SO, Wilson KS, Good T, McMenamin J, McCarron B, Pithie A, Fox R (1999) Detection of antibodies against hepatitis C virus in saliva: a marker of viral replication. J Viral Hepat 6:141–144

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Allwright S, Bradley F, Long J, Barry J, Thornton L, Parry JV (2000) Prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV and risk factors in Irish prisoners: results of a national cross sectional survey. Br Med J 321:78–82

    Google Scholar 

  5. Elsana S, Sikuler E, Yaari A, Shemer-Avni Y, Margalith M (2001) Salivary HCV-antibodies: a follow-up cohort study of liver disease patients. Clin Lab 47:335–338

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Judd A, Parry J, Hickman M, McDonald T, Jordan L, Lewis K, Contreras M, Dusheiko G, Foster G, Gill N, Kemp K, Main J, Murray-Lyon I, Nelson M (2003) Evaluation of a modified commercial assay in detecting antibody to hepatitis C virus in oral fluids and dried blood spots. J Med Virol 71:49–55

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. De Cock L, Hutse V, Verhaegen E, Quoilin S, Vandenberghe H, Vranckx R (2004) Detection of HCV antibodies in oral fluid. J Virol Methods 222:179–183

    Google Scholar 

  8. Mortimer PP, Parry JV (1988) The use of saliva for viral diagnosis and screening. Epidemiol Infect 101:197–201

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Parry JV, Perry KR, Mortimer PP (1987) Sensitive assays for viral antibodies for saliva: an alternative to test for serum. Lancet 2:72–75

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Van Doornum GJ, Lodder A, Buimer M, Van Ameijden EJ, Bruisten S (2001) Evaluation of hepatitis C antibody testing in saliva specimens collected by two different systems in comparison with HCV antibody and HCV RNA in serum. J Med Virol 64:13–20

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Elsana S, Sikuler E, Yaari A, Shemer-Avni Y, Abu-Shakra M, Buskila D, Katzman P, Naggan L, Margalith M (1998) HCV antibodies in saliva and urine. J Med Virol 55:24–27

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Saldanha J, Heath A, Lelie N, Pisani G, Nübling M, Yu M, The Collaborative Study Group (2000) Calibration of HCV working reagents for NAT assays against the HCV international standard. Vox Sang 78:217–224

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the epidemiology section at the Scientific Institute of Public Health and the staff at the hospitals for collecting blood and oral fluid, E. Verhaegen for performing the screening tests, and E. Mairiaux for helping with the statistics

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Scientific Institute of Public Health, Juliette Wytsmanstreet 14, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    L. De Cock & R. Vranckx

  2. Virology Section, Department of Microbiology, Scientific Institute of Public Health, Juliette Wytsmanstreet 14, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    V. Hutse

Authors
  1. L. De Cock
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. V. Hutse
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. R. Vranckx
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to V. Hutse.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

De Cock, L., Hutse, V. & Vranckx, R. Correlation between detection of antibodies against hepatitis C virus in oral fluid and hepatitis C virus RNA in serum. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 24, 566–568 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-005-1369-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-005-1369-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation