Routine practice HCV infection screening with saliva samples: multicentric study in an intravenous drug user population.

Objective: The purpose of this randomized multicentric study was to evaluate the diagnostic contribution of screening for HCV infection on saliva samples in day-to-day practice in the intravenous drug-user (IVDU) population.

Methods: Between January and May 2004, 274 presumably HCV-negative IVDU were screened for HCV infection in 15 centers in France (median age 29 years). After centralized randomization, screening tests were performed on blood samples (arm A) or saliva samples (arm B).