Description
Hepatitis C is an infection of the liver caused by the hepatitis C virus. HCV is transmitted by exposure to infectious blood; forms of transmission include unprotected sexual activity, blood transfusion, mother-to-infant transmission, or occupational exposure to blood. The acute illness causes liver inflammation, liver fibrosis, vomiting and jaundice, while chronic HCV infection often leads to liver cirrhosis and failure.
An estimated 270-300 million people worldwide have been infected with hepatitis C. At least 75% of people infected will develop chronic hepatitis C and have it the rest of their lives.
Diagnosis of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has long been based on HCV serology and detection of HCV antibodies. With the development of therapies for chronic HCV infection, including interferon and ribavirin, quantitative detection of HCV has been used increasingly as the most important marker for monitoring HCV titer, disease progression, and assessing antiviral treatment. Several assays for the quantitative measurement of HCV DNA have been developed, such as PCR based nucleic acid amplification assays. However, these methods tend to be cumbersome and expensive.
The HCV Core Antigen ELISA Kit is an enzyme immunoassay developed for detection and quantitation of the HCV core protein. The kit has detection sensitivity limit of 1 ng /mL HCVcAg. Each kit provides sufficient reagents to perform up to 96 assays including standard curve and HCV samples