Rapid at-home Detection for Serologic Status of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Infection

丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）感染是一个全球性的健康问题，影响世界人口的约3%。在美国，超过200万人目前感染HCV，然而，他们中的近一半人不知道他们的感染。HCV相关的终末期肝病是美国肝移植的主要原因。由于慢性HCV感染者通常没有症状，因此必须将适当的HCV检测与风险因素联系起来，以识别感染。目前，HCV感染的有效治疗方法是可用的。然而，诊断是适当的HCV护理和治疗的瓶颈，特别是在低收入和中等收入国家。 在本项目中，Qoolabs提出开发家庭快速检测HCV抗体的方法，该方法将使用手指采血样本，无需特殊仪器即可在20分钟内完成。HCV抗体家庭检测将与正在开发的HCV核心抗原快速检测相辅相成。通过核心抗原和总抗体检测，可以实现准确且具有成本效益的家庭血清学诊断，以满足大规模人群筛查的需要。

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection is a worldwide health concern, affecting about 3% of the world’s population. Over 2 million people in the United States have a current HCV infection, however, nearly half of them are not aware of their infection. HCV-related end stage liver disease is the leading reason for liver transplantation in the USA. Because symptoms are generally absent in individuals with chronic HCV infection, appropriate HCV testing must be linked with risk factors to allow for recognition of infection. Effective treatments for HCV infection are currently available. However, diagnosis is a bottleneck for appropriate HCV care and treatment, especially in low- and medium-income countries. In this project, Qoolabs proposes to develop at-home rapid test for HCV antibody detection The test will use finger prick blood samples, can be completed within 20 minutes without special instrument. The HCV antibody at-home test will be complementary with the HCV core antigen rapid tests that are being developed. With both core antigen and total antibody detection, it is feasible to achieve accurate and cost-effective at-home serodiagnostics to fulfill the need of screening large populations.