Demonstration of the diagnostic agreement of capillary and venous blood samples, using hepatitis-C virus SD Bioline rapid test: A clinic-based study.

Background: Simplifying hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening is a key step in achieving the elimination of HCV as a global public health threat by 2030.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to demonstrate the agreement of capillary blood and venipuncture specimens when using SD Bioline HCV, a low-cost rapid diagnostic test (RDT), prequalified by WHO in 2016 on venous blood samples.

Study Design: Recruitment was conducted prospectively among adult patients presenting for HCV testing at the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) clinic of Preah Kossamak Hospital (Phnom Penh, Cambodia) between October and November 2017.

Field evaluation of GeneXpert (Cepheid) HCV performance for RNA quantification in a genotype 1 and 6 predominant patient population in Cambodia.

GeneXpert (Cepheid) is the only WHO prequalified platform for hepatitis C virus (HCV) nucleic acid amplification testing that is suitable for point-of-care use in resource-limited contexts. However, its application is constrained by the lack of evidence on genotype 6 (GT6) HCV. We evaluated its field performance among a patient population in Cambodia predominantly infected with GT6.