Comparison between Recombinant Immunoblot assay 3rd generation and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay for detection hepatitis C virus .

This study was carried out to compare between recombinant immunoblot assay 3rd generation and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay for identify hepatitis C virus. Seventy six Iraqi patients undergo hepatitis C were involved in this study. The study was carried out from July 2010 to April 2011 were followed up in public health center- Baghdad. These patients included 54 males and 22 females as well as their ages ranged between (8-68) year with a mean age of 47.1±13.79, besides, the majority of patients are at the age between 31-60 year (54 %), while children elicit less frequency of infection (2 %). Additionally the ratio between male to female was 2.45:1. There are two methods which are used for HCV diagnosis. The first method by using ELISA technique for detection of anti HCV antibody. 61 out of 76 sera samples of hepatitis patients (i.e. 80.2%) were found to be positive for this test. Another advanced method such as recombinant immunoblot assay 3rd generation (RIBA) has been applied, all these specimens gave positive results (100 %) with significant difference was noticed between them (P 0.05), therefore the current results confirm that a RIBA 3rd generation is more sensitive manner to detect hepatitis C virus than ELISA.