Performance characteristics of a combined hepatitis C virus core antigen and anti-hepatitis C virus antibody test in different patient groups.

We evaluated the performance of a hepatitis C virus (HCV) antigen/antibody combination test [Murex HCV Antigen/Antibody Combination Test (Murex Ag/Ab test)] by comparing it with the current third-generation HCV antibody enzyme immunoassay (anti-HCV). A total of 403 serum samples were consecutively collected from four patient groups: healthy controls (n=100); HCV-infected patients (HCV group, n=102); Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/HCV-infected patients (HIV/HCV group, n=100); and patients with uremia (uremia group, n=101). Performances were evaluated for the Murex Ag/Ab, anti-HCV, and HCV RNA in the HIV/HCV and uremia patient groups.

Performance characteristics of two real-time PCR assays for quantification of hepatitis B virus DNA.

Detection and quantification for hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA has been an essential tool in the clinical setting. We aimed to assess clinical performance of the RealArt HBV TM PCR (RealArt) assay and the COBAS TaqMan HBV (COBAS) assay. Serum levels of HBV DNA in 146 treatment-naïve chronic HBV (CHB) Taiwanese patients (118 males, 47 HBeAg + ; mean age, 34.