Hepatitis C virus infection and biological false-positive syphilis tests

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Hepatitis C virus infection and biological false-positive syphilis tests

Submitted by jenna on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 13:03

Abstracts and Research United States of America

Hepatitis C virus infection and biological false-positive syphilis tests. -( BFP)

Sex Transm Infect. 2010 Apr;86(2):97-8Authors: Augenbraun M, French A, Glesby M, -Keeland L, Young M, Greenblatt R, Sharma A

Background

The diagnosis of syphilis requires two-step serological testing. Not infrequently, sensitive screening tests are reactive but are not confirmed by more specific confirmatory tests yielding a biological false positive (BFP).

This study sought to describe the prevalence of BFP in a large population of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected and uninfected women.

Methods

A cross-sectional serosurvey of HIV-seropositive and HIV-seronegative women enrolled in the Women's Interagency HIV Study, a multicentre collaborative study of the natural history of HIV in women. Results Among HCV-infected women 4% had a BFP compared with 1% among those who were HCV uninfected (odds ratio (OR) 3.3, 95% CI 2.1 to 5.1). Controlling for both HIV infection and a history of intravenous drug use among all tests for syphilis a BFP also occurred more commonly in HCV-infected women compared with HCV-uninfected women (6% vs 1%, OR 7.62, 95% CI 1.9 to 12.5).

Conclusion

HCV infection is associated with various effects on immune function including alterations in serological test results. Women with HCV are more likely to have a BFP=biological false-positive syphilis test than women without HCV.

PMID: 20332367 [PubMed - in process] [PubMed-HIV]http://www.hivatlas.org/blog/classifieds/21400-hepatitis-c-virus-infection-and-biological-false-positive-syphilis-tests

http://Hepatitis Cnewdrugs.blogspot.com/2010/03/hepatitis-c-virus-infection-and.html