[Determination of hepatitis C antibodies, using the Abbott and the Ortho anti-HCV EIA kits, in chronic liver diseases and patients under hemodialysis for chronic renal failure].

The diagnostic usefulness of anti HCV EIA test of Abbott and Ortho companies were compared. The anti HCV levels determined in the sera of 173 patients with chronic liver diseases and of 17 haemodialysed kidney patients. 109 of 190 (57%) sera were found to be negative and 81 (43%) positive determined by Abbott kit, while 127 (67%) were negative and 63 (30%) were positive by the Ortho kit. Positive results in patients with chronic liver disease were found in 66 patients by Abbott and 58 patients with Ortho Kit. Distribution of positive cases according to the diagnosis is as follows: 29 (57%) out of 51 chronic hepatitis, 17 (61%) out of 28 cirrhosis. Conflicting results were obtained in 20 cases of 190 (11%) when 17 sera were positive by Abbott and negative by ORTHO, and 3 sera were negative by Abbott, and positive by Ortho. The samples close to the cut off and with low positivity with conflicting results were checked again by the neutralization HCV EIA Abbott assay. We found the Abbott HCV EIA test more sensitive in our excellent for screening of large numbers of samples, we recommend to confirm the positive results by a neutralization type test.