Validation of Whole Blood Rapid Diagnosis Test for Hepatitis B.

We recently published a report validating point-of-care rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) for the diagnosis of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in serum. In the current report, we validated a whole-blood RDT for HBsAg in the form of a test-strip. The test was validated in 55 HBV positive individuals across all genotypes other than F, and in 20 HBV negative individuals in the Netherlands. The RDT showed 100% sensitivity and specificity. The low cost and use in whole blood allows this RDT to be useful in resource-limited locations, further validation in such settings will be of importance.