Prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes and increase of type 4 in central Italy: an update and report of a new method of HCV genotyping.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotyping is very useful for identifying the patients (type 1 and 4) that need more aggressive management. In recent years, genotype 4 has shown spread in different parts of Europe. The aim of this study was to update on the prevalence of HCV genotypes of 288 patients in Central Italy, to analyze the possible increase of genotype 4 and to evaluate a new simple genotyping method.

Identifying recent HIV infections using the avidity index and an automated enzyme immunoassay.

We evaluated a procedure for identifying recent HIV infections, using sequential serum samples from 47 HIV-positive persons for whom the seroconversion date could be accurately estimated. Each serum sample was divided into two aliquots: one diluted with phosphate-buffered saline and the other diluted with 1 M guanidine. We assayed the aliquots with the automated AxSYM HIV1/2gO test (Abbott Diagnostics Division), without modifying the manufacturer's protocol.

Precision and accuracy of a procedure for detecting recent human immunodeficiency virus infections by calculating the antibody avidity index by an automated immunoassay-based method.

We evaluated the precision and accuracy of a procedure for detecting recent human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections, specifically, the avidity index (AI) calculated using a method based on an automated AxSYM HIV 1/2gO assay (Abbott). To evaluate precision, we performed multiple replicates on eight HIV-positive serum samples. To evaluate the accuracy in identifying recent infections (i.