Point-of-Care Tests for Hepatitis

[mwright]

Point-of-care tests (commonly known as Card tests) for detection of HBsAg and anti-HCV have been developed and recently there has been mushrooming of these tests in the Indian and international commercial market. These tests detect HBsAg and Anti-HCV at or near the site of patient care. The tests have major benefits to offer in screening and control of HBV & HCV infections especially in far flung low resource endemic zones of the world. The tests are cheap, give rapid diagnosis, are convenient and easy to store without need for cold chain, need small blood samples for testing, need minimal training of professionals for testing and need no or minimal expensive equipment. The test results are available to the patient, physician and care team within an hour, which allowed for clinical management decisions to be made in the same clinical encounter. Read more here:bit.ly/1yYHsPZ