Abbott Diagnostics has expanded its Architect assay range with the addition of rHTLV I/II and improved Anti-HBc II assays.
The Architect rHTLV I/II assay is a fully automated recombinant assay used to detect antibodies to Human T-Lymphotropic Virus (HTLV) I and II.
The Hepatitis B Core Antigen (Anti-HBc II) assay brings improvement in performance for specificity without impacting sensitivity.
The launch of these assays will complete the automation of the infectious disease panels used for testing in the blood screening environment.
Continued expansion of the testing menu on Architect is a priority for Abbott.
Architect immunoassay systems are used to diagnose and monitor a range of diseases routinely tested for in laboratories, playing a critical role in monitoring communicable disease in the community and in the screening of donated blood and transplant organs.
Neither Hepatitis B nor HTLV is easy to detect.
Carriers of these viruses may not develop symptoms immediately, if at all, and both are lifelong infections that can cause chronic (long-term) illness.
Hepatitis B is 100 times more infectious than HIV1 and less than 1,000 of the potential 22,000 UK carriers of HTLV-I are aware of their condition.
