High Anti-HCV Seroprevalence and Low Performance of ICT Strip in Diagnosing Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Children in Enugu Metropolis

Maryann Chinenye Ezeilo ,Romanus Ifeanyi Iroha ,Godwill Azeh Engwa ,Damian Nonso Odimegwu

doi:10.2174/1874357901812010149

Maryann Chinenye Ezeilo , Romanus Ifeanyi Iroha + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.2174/1874357901812010149

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Abstract

Background:The lack of a vaccine for Hepatitis C virus (HCV) places children at a high risk of contracting the infection. It becomes necessary to accurately diagnose this infection for proper treatment as well as identifying potential risk factors for effective management.Aim:This study was conceived to assess the test performance of the commonly used Immunochromatographic test (ICT) strip and identify the associated clinical manifestations and risk factors of HCV in children in Enugu Metropolis.Method:A cross-sectional study involving randomly selected 270 children below six years of age was conducted in Enugu Nigeria. The subjects were screened for anti-HCV by ICT and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and the demographic, signs and symptoms and risk factors were collected.Results:A total of 50 out of 270 children were positive for anti-HCV with a seropositivity of 18.5%. ICT strip had a very low sensitivity of 38.00% with an accuracy of 88.52% in detecting anti-HCV. The presence of dark urine was associated (p= 0.01) with HCV infection.Conclusion:A seroprevalence of 18.5% of Anti-HCV was found in children below six years old in Enugu metropolis and the performance of ICT in diagnosing HCV infection was poor compared to ELISA.

Highlights

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a globally prevalent virus and a leading cause of morbidity and mortality which calls for public health concern [1]
A seroprevalence of 18.5% of Anti-HCV was found in children below six years old in Enugu metropolis and the performance of Immunochromatographic test (ICT) in diagnosing HCV infection was poor compared to Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA)
The ELISA assay was more effective and reliable than the ICT strips in diagnosing anti-HCV as it detected 50 positive subjects as against 19 for ICT strips. As such ICT test had a low potential in detecting anti-HCV positive subjects with a sensitivity of 38.00% (19/50), but was very effective in screening subjects without HCV as all anti-HCV negative subjects were confirmed negative by ELISA, resulting to a specificity of 100%

Summary

Introduction

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a globally prevalent virus and a leading cause of morbidity and mortality which calls for public health concern [1]. HCV is the leading cause of death in HIV patients who are on highly active antiretroviral drugs [5]. The likely primary means of HCV transmission especially in developing countries include blood transfusion from unscreened donors, exposure of blood through the use of contaminated or inadequately sterilized medical instruments and needles for surgical and dental procedures, performing activities that cause skin breaks such as tattooing, ear and body piercing, the use of unsterilized objects for rituals and traditional medicine such as circumcision, scarification, face marks, acupuncture etc [2, 6]. It becomes necessary to accurately diagnose this infection for proper treatment as well as identifying potential risk factors for effective management

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