New Hepatitis C Assay from Roche Provides Accurate and Rapid Results
9 Apr 2012
Due to the high rate of asymptomatic infections, clinical diagnosis of hepatitis C is difficult and screening assays are of major importance. An estimated 216,000 individuals are chronically infected with hepatitis C (HCV) in the UK, and HCV-related end stage liver disease and mortality continue to increase.
The new Roche Elecsys® anti-HCV II assay is used to demonstrate the presence of antibodies against HCV during acute and chronic stages of disease, and after a passed infection. The assay provides 100% clinical sensitivity for all known genotypes, leading to early detection of infection, and patient-oriented decision making.
With high specificity in blood donors (99.84%) and samples from clinical routine, pregnant women and dialysis patients, use of the Elecsys anti-HCV II assay increases laboratory testing efficiencies. To optimize workflows and provide operational cost savings, the ready-to-use liquid reagents have a long onboard stability of 31 days on all Roche immunoassay platforms.
The new assay complements the Roche serology assay menu that includes assays for Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV, TORCH, Herpes, Syphilis and other infectious diseases.