Concurrent acquired inhibitors to factor VIII and IX, a laboratory artifact: a case report.

Acquired inhibitors to coagulation factors other than factor VIII are extremely rare. We describe a case of a 59-year-old woman with abnormal bleeding, diagnosed with concurrent inhibitor antibodies to factor VIII and IX by Bethesda testing. We demonstrate that anti-FVIII antibodies of a very high titre are capable of disturbing the aPTT-based Bethesda assay, resulting in falsely-positive antibodies to factor IX. The case also illustrates the usefulness of the immunological assay (ELISA) in complementing the inhibitor diagnosis

Genotyping of hepatitis C virus isolates in Slovenia

Genotyping of hepatitis C virus (HCV) isolates is of particular interest for epidemiology. Because of extreme genome variability of HCV genome, each genotyping method should be evaluated in local setting before being introducedas a routine diagnostic procedure or a tool for large-scale epidemiological studies. This comparative study of four most widely used HCV genotyping assays, employed on 40 HCV isolates in Slovenia, showed that none of them was realy suitable for genotyping Slovenian HCV isolates. Thanks to its satisfactory sensitivity, specificity and simplicity, the line probe assaywas found to be the most appropriate tool for both routine and large-scale epidemiological studies. Using this assay the prevalence of HCV genotypes in Slovenia was studied on 226 individuals infected with HCV Significant differences in HCV genotype distribution observed between epidemiological groups in Slovenia indicate a close relationship between individual HCV genotypes in Slovenia was studied on 226 individuals infected with HCV. Significant differences in HCV genotype distribution observed between epidemiological groups in Slovenia indicate a close relationship between individual HCV gentoypes and certain routes of viral transmission.Opredelitev genotipa virusa hepatitisa C (HCV) je pomembna v raziskovanju epidemiologije okužbe s tem virusom oz. za natančno spremljanje ter razjasnitev načina prenosa in širjenja okužbe. Zaradi spremenljivosti genoma in neenakomerne zemljepisne porazdelitve genotipov HCV je treba pred začetkom kakrčnekoli epidemiološke raziskave v vsaki državi preveriti učinkovitost različnih tipizacijskih metod s pilotsko raziskavo in ob tem ugotoviti tudi okvirno prisotost in delež posameznih genotipov HCV S primerjalno raziskavo, ki smo jo izvedli na 40 izolatih RNA HCV iz Slovenije, smo primerjali učinkovitost štirih posrednih metod genomske tipizacije in ugotovili, da s posameznimi metodami ni mogoče dokončno opredeliti vseh genotipov oz. podtipovHCV, prisotnnih v Sloveniji. Izkazalo se je, da je v našem prostoru najbolj primerna metoda genomske tipizacije reverzni dot-blot s tipsko specifičnimi DNA-lovkami za 5\u27nekodirajoči del genoma HCV. Z izbrano strategijo genomske tipizacije smo nato določ/podtip HCV pri 226 slovenskih bolnikih, ki so se okužili s HCV na različne načine oz. so prpov HCV se v SLoveniji razlikuje med posamezninikov. Rezultati raziskave kažejo na povezavomed posamezdoločenimi načini prenosa virusa