|
|
||||||||
Clinical Chemistry, Vol 37, 797-803, Copyright © 1991 by American Association for Clinical Chemistry
LG Dodd, JH McBride, GL Gitnick, PJ Howanitz and DO Rodgerson
Department of Pathology, University of California, Los Angeles, Center for Health Sciences 90024.
Quality-assurance sera (QAS) are prepared from pooled sera composed of thousands of individual donations. Previous studies documented that a substantial percentage of individual QAS test positive for viral disease markers, including antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus and to hepatitis B surface antigen. We tested 239 QAS from various proficiency programs and commercial sources to determine the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody. We tested samples for anti-HCV by using an enzyme immunoassay (EIA; Abbott Labs.) and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA; Ortho Diagnostics). We observed an overall positive rate of 49% by one or both assays in all categories of sera tested. In addition, we found a greater rate of positivity (58%) in proficiency program samples than in commercial samples (43%). We found discrepant results between the two assays for 15 of 239 samples (6%). In the discrepant samples, the EIA result was positive, whereas the ELISA result was negative. Anti-HCV positivity in QAS has important implications for laboratory personnel handling these samples.
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |