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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, November 2008, p. 3791-3794, Vol. 46, No. 11
0095-1137/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JCM.00045-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Departments of Clinical Virology,1 Clinical Gastroenterology, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India,2 Department of Virology, UCL Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust,3 Centre for Virology, Department of Infection, University College London, London, United Kingdom4
Received 9 January 2008/ Returned for modification 10 April 2008/ Accepted 4 August 2008
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells are reported to be one of the extrahepatic replication sites contributing to the persistence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Whole-blood and plasma samples from 61 individuals were compared as sources for the detection of HCV RNA. Forty-four of the individuals were receiving antiviral therapy, while 17 were treatment naïve. The quantitation of HCV RNA was done by a sensitive in-house real-time reverse transcription-PCR. When the viral loads in the two types of samples were compared, a correlation coefficient of 0.858 (P < 0.001) was found, indicating that plasma and whole blood are equally acceptable sources for testing for HCV RNA.
Published ahead of print on 13 August 2008.
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