Biochemical Studies of Hepatitis B, C Infections in Egyptian Population

Abstract

This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C in apparently healthy subjects of Egyptian population and to compare between 2nd and 3rd ,,

'' generation ELISA kits for the detection ofHCVAb regarding specificity and sensitivity

•• using a Western blot assay as a good reference for the detection of antibodies to

,, hepatitis C virus. The study was performed through the Ibn-Sena hospital (according to a protocol for guests travel workers to Saudi Arabia) and the critical care department in Cairo university hospitals. This retrospective large scale study was performed on 56,432 ( 54,843 males, 1,589 females) randomly chosen healthy subjects at the

outpatients clinic . The Diasorin ELISA kit was used to detect HBsAg in the serum of the donors .The study revealed that the incidence of HBsAg is 3.37% in males, 1.45% in females, i.e. the mean of incidence of HBsAg infections in the Egyptian population is about 2.41%.

The Diasorin 3rd generation ELISA kit was used mainly for detecting HCVAb in the Egyptian population . Also the Abbott 2nd generation ELISA kit and the Wellcozyme Westen blot assay were performed as confirmatory tests for the detection of HCVAb in the serum of donors . The results of this study revealed that the 2nd generation ELISA kit is less sensitive but more specific yielding more false negative