Direct comparison of antibody responses to four SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in Mongolia.

Different SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are approved in various countries, but few direct comparisons of the antibody responses they stimulate have been reported. We collected plasma specimens in July 2021 from 196 Mongolian participants fully vaccinated with one of four COVID-19 vaccines: Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, and Sinopharm. Functional antibody testing with a panel of nine SARS-CoV-2 viral variant receptor binding domain (RBD) proteins revealed marked differences in vaccine responses, with low antibody levels and RBD-ACE2 blocking activity stimulated by the Sinopharm and Sputnik V vaccines in comparison to the AstraZeneca or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines.

Sensitivity and specificity of commercially available rapid diagnostic tests for viral hepatitis B and C screening in serum samples.

Early diagnosis of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections is pivotal for optimal disease management. Sensitivity and specificity of 19 rapid diagnostic test (RDT) kits by different manufacturers (ABON, CTK Biotech, Cypress Diagnostics, Green Gross, Human Diagnostic, Humasis, InTec, OraSure, SD Bioline, Wondfo) were assessed on serum samples of 270 Mongolians (90 seropositive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), 90 seropositive for hepatitis C antibody (HCV-Ab), 90 healthy subjects). All tested RDTs for detection of HBsAg performed with average sensitivities and specificities of 100% and 99%, respectively.

A novel quantitative microarray antibody capture assay identifies an extremely high hepatitis delta virus prevalence among hepatitis B virus-infected mongolians.

Unlabelled: Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) causes the most severe form of human viral hepatitis. HDV requires a hepatitis B virus (HBV) coinfection to provide HDV with HBV surface antigen envelope proteins. The net effect of HDV is to make the underlying HBV disease worse, including higher rates of hepatocellular carcinoma.