Evaluation of two (02) platforms for chemiluminescence-based detection of anti-rubella IgG antibodies in a sub-Saharan country, Côte d'Ivoire.

The diagnosis of rubella is mainly made in pregnant women and the newborn by specific IgG and/or IgM detection. In addition to HAI and ELISA techniques, new immunoanalytical methods have been developed. This study aimed to evaluate two chemiluminescence platforms, Architect i2000SR and Maglumi 800 for rubella biological diagnosis in Côte d'Ivoire. Blood samples were taken from 113 pregnant women aged 15 to 30 in prenatal care. Samples were analyzed for Rubella IgG detection at the NBTS laboratory on the evaluated platforms and the Cobas e601 used as a reference. The majority of women were in their second trimester of pregnancy. Among them, only 13.3% were vaccinated against rubella. The evaluated platforms showed good precision with coefficients of variation >10%. Regarding analytical performances, sensitivities were 97.53% and 96.29% whereas specificities were 100% and 96.88% for Architect I2000SR and Maglumi800, respectively. Both platforms showed good agreement with cobas e601 for antibody levels <200 IU/ml and <350UI/ml for Architect and Maglumi 800, respectively. Findings of the current study revealed that the two platforms have similar features with Cobas e601 and could be used routinely for the serological diagnosis of rubella. However, the results of one platform should not be extrapolated to another.

Evaluation of Four Rapid Tests for Detection of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen in Ivory Coast.

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a leading cause of liver disease worldwide. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) could be an ideal tool for a large-scale HBV screening in settings with high endemicity but limited infrastructure. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnosis performance of such RDTs for screening HBV infection in Ivory Coast. METHODS: From September 2018 to January 2019, a cross-sectional phase I evaluation study of RDTs was conducted in three laboratories of Abidjan (CeDReS, CNTS and IPCI), on a panel of 405 whole blood samples and 699 plasmas. Four HBsAg RDTs (Determine™ HBsAg, SD Bioline HBsAg WB®, Standard Q HBsAg® and Vikia HBsAg®) were evaluated. The diagnostic performance (sensitivity and specificity) was calculated in comparison to the reference sequential algorithms of two EIA tests (Dia.Pro HBsAg® one version ULTRA and Monolisa™ HBsAg ULTRA). RESULTS: The Determine™ HBsAg and Vikia HBsAg® tests performed well, with 100% of sensitivity, specificity both on plasma and on whole blood. For SD Bioline HBsAg WB® and Standard Q HBsAg®, the specificities were 99.8% and the sensitivities 99.3% and 97.1% respectively. Finally, there were a total of 19 false negative results: 3 with SD Bioline HBsAg WB® and 16 with Standard Q HBsAg®. CONCLUSION: Determine HBsAg® from Alere and Vikia HBsAg® from Biomérieux are the most suitable RDTs for screening for HBV in Ivory Coast. A phase II evaluation must be initiated.