Field performance of the Determine HBsAg point-of-care test for diagnosis of hepatitis B virus co-infection among HIV patients in Zambia

In Africa where the burden of hepatitis B virus is high, [1] rapid point-of-care (POC) tests are recommended to increase diagnostic capacity because they are low cost, temperature stable, and can be performed by lay health workers. [2,3] The World Health Organization recommends use of POC tests to identify patients with chronic HBV infection; however, real world data in Africa are limited on test performance and integration of HBV testing into the health system. Among available data two POC hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) tests had sensitivities of 88.5 and 90.0% for diagnosis of HBV monoinfection in the Gambia when compared to a gold standard ELISA assay with>99% accuracy.
Source: Journal of Clinical Virology - Category: Virology Authors: Tags: Short communication Source Type: research