Objective: To detect hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody in saliva and find its clinical significance.
Methods: Sera and saliva samples from eighty-six patients were parallely detected HCV antibodies (anti-HCV) with EIA using a modified protocol.
Results: Twenty-nine of 86 patients were positive for anti-HCV in sera samples; and, 27/29 were also anti-HCV positive with saliva samples. For the 57 anti-HCV negative sera, the saliva samples were all negative. Comparing with the results of sera, the sensitivity (93.1%, 27/29) and specificity (100%, 57/57) of salivary detection for anti-HCV could be accepted.
Conclusion: If the results of sera are considered as "golden standard", these results suggest that tests on saliva can be useful in HCV clinical diagnosis and epidemiological studies for estimating the prevalence of HCV in populations.