Three hundred and twenty nine plasma samples were screened by two HCV rapid tests (ImmunoComb® II HCV, PBS Orgenics and Hexagon® HCV, Human). Previous evaluation of these samples for HCV antibodies (anti-HCV) by conventional third generation ELISA, considered as a reference test, indicated that 168 were anti-HCV negative and 161 positive. Among the 161 anti-HCV positive plasma, 114 (71 % ) were HCV RNA-positive by RT-PCR assay.
The ImmunoComb® II HCV test provided the more sensitive detection of anti-HCV (sensitivity: 99.4 % with a 95 % CI = 96–100 % ). Surprisingly, the second HCV rapid test, Hexagon® HCV, showed a high capacity to identify non-viremic subjects amongst anti-HCV positive cases (93.6 % [95 % CI: 82–99 % ]). These results suggest an algorithm using ImmunoComb® II HCV as a first test to screen anti-HCV positive subjects, and Hexagon® HCV as a second test to discriminate between viremic and non-viremic HCV seropositive subjects.