News
Development of Diagnostic Screening from Dried Blood Spots for HCV, HBV, HIV and Syphilis
Central Manchester and Manchester Children’s University Hospitals NHS Trust
Benjamin Brown, Trainee Clinical Scientist (Central Manchester and Manchester Children’s University Hospitals NHS Trust), the staff of the Clinical Virology Laboratory, Manchester Medical Microbiology Partnership (Central Manchester and Manchester Children’s University Hospitals NHS Trust),
Dr R Harry, Consultant Gastroenterologist (Central Manchester and Manchester Children’s University Hospitals NHS Trust), Dr J Vilar, Consultant in Infectious Diseases (Central Manchester and Manchester Children’s University Hospitals NHS Trust), Dr E Duffel, Consultant in Communicable Disease Medicine (Manchester Health Protection Unit), the members of the Greater Manchester Hepatitis C Strategy Group.
Current tests to identify infections (such as hepatitis
C virus [HCV], hepatitis B virus [HBV], human
immunodeficiency virus [HIV] and syphilis) rely on a
venous blood sample. This can be difficult to take
from injecting drug users (a significant proportion of
the population carrying HCV) due to the condition of
their veins. Therefore, an alternative, dangerous and
difficult procedure to collect the blood sample from
the external jugular vein is often undertaken by a
phlebotomist.
The potential to test for these infections using dried blood spot samples offers several advantages. When compared with taking blood from the jugular vein, taking dried blood spot samples is easy and requires no specialist staff. Furthermore, studies comparing the sensitivity of tests utilising dried blood spot samples against those utilising oral swabbing (the only other alternative to using samples taken from the jugular vein) have demonstrated increased sensitivity of the dried blood spot sample testing. A novel card design and method will enable the quick and easy testing of large numbers of samples though automated machinery.
It is anticipated that the development of a robust screening technique for dried blood spot samples, could result in increased screening rates for HCV, HBV, HIV and syphilis in the population. This, in turn, may help to provide access to quicker treatment by an appropriate pathway and, consequently, a reduction in the spread of infection and secondary disorders (e.g. liver failure).
Image: Benjamin Brown, Caroline Corless and Dr Paul Klapper (Central Manchester and Manchester Children's University Hospitals NHS Trust)