Rapid diagnostic tests for HCV; A golden key for HCV eradication in Iran

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a primary hepatotropic virus, affecting more than 177 million people worldwide. Initial testing for the diagnosis of hepatitis C infection are serologic assays that detect HCV antibodies. Nowadays rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) have been suggested for rapid diagnose of HCV infection. RDTs are single-use, simple, low cost and rapid assays for diagnosing HCV antibodies. Most RDTs can be performed with finger-stick capillary blood sampling and some of them have been validated for use with oral fluid samples. RDTs don’t require any venipuncture for collecting specimen thus RDTs can be performed by healthcare workers. There are four RDT tests: OraQuick HCV Rapid Antibody Test, First Response HCV Card Test, ASSURE HCV Rapid Test and MultiSure HCV Antibody Assay .Their diagnostic specificity and sensitivity are 100% and 98% respectively. To our knowledge these tests have not been used in Iran yet for diagnostic or screening targets. As we know most of HCV-infected patients (nearly 60%) in Iran are still undiagnosed. Detecting the undiagnosed HCV-infected patients is necessary for reach the goal of HCV elimination in Iran. Using these tests would make HCV screening/ diagnosing very easy and can be performed for large samples of general population and particularly high risk individuals i.e. homeless, injected drug users and multipartners; who are the main source of HCV infection. In order to HCV eradication by 2030 in Iran; we should use an easy, low cost and rapid tests for diagnosing/screening, fortunately these tests can be performed even in faraway areas which have not enough spatiality clinics or laboratories for diagnosing HCV. The beneficial effects of using RDTs are: 1) Diagnosing the majority of HCV infected patients among the general population or high risk individuals. 2) Decreasing the rate of HCV transmission by detecting the infected individuals at early stages. 3) Decreasing the rate of HCV-related morbidities/mortalities by detecting the infected individuals at early stages. Obviously using these simple and rapid diagnostic tests enables us to reach the goal of HCV elimination by 2030 in Iran.

کلیدواژه ها:

Hepatitis C infection ، RDTs ، HCV eradication ، diagnosis