Poor sensitivity of rapid tests for the detection of antibodies to the hepatitis B virus : implications for field studies

• Autor(a) principal: Cruz, Helena Medina
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Outros Autores: Scalioni, Leticia de Paula, Paula, Vanessa Salete de, Miguel, Juliana Custódio, Ó, Kycia Maria Rodrigues do, Milagres, Flavio Augusto Pádua, Cruz, Marcelo Santos, Bastos, Francisco Inácio, Flores, Priscila Pollo, Leal, Erotildes, Motta-Castro, Ana Rita Coimbra, Lewis-Ximenez, Lia Laura, Lampe, Elisabeth, Villar, Livia Melo
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UnB
• Texto Completo: http://repositorio.unb.br/handle/10482/30582; http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0074-02760160394
• topic: Hepatite B; Anticorpos

Rapid tests (RTs) can be used as an alternative method for the conventional diagnosis of hepatitis B virus (HBV). This study aims to evaluate antibodies to HBsAg (anti-HBs) and antibodies to HBeAg (anti-HBe) RTs under different Brazilian settings. The following three groups were included: GI: viral hepatitis outpatient services; GII: low resource areas; and GIII: crack users and beauticians. Imuno-rápido anti-HBsAg™ and Imuno-rápido anti-HBeAg™ RTs were evaluated and showed specificities greater than 95% in all groups. The sensitivity values to anti-HBs were 50.38%, 51.05% and 46.73% and the sensitivity values to anti-HBe were 76.99%, 10.34% and 11.76% in the GI, GII and GIII groups, respectively. The assays had a low sensitivity and high specificity, which indicated their use for screening in regions endemic for HBV.