A new test could allow a major breakthrough in the fight against hepatitis C. According to the University of Bonn, this method would be for an equivalent sensitivity, significantly less costly than the usual commercial tests. For the first time, poorer countries would be able to test for hepatitis C in blood units on a large scale and with the best methods available.

The test was developed by researchers at the University of Bonn and the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg. Scientists from Brazil, Singapore, South Africa and England have also participated in the study has been published in the journal "PLoS Medicine".

Hepatitis C affects approximately

170 million people worldwide. The contaminated units of blood are a major source of contamination, they are routinely tested for hepatitis C in Europe and the USA. These recent tests against are too expensive for poorer countries who then turn to testing older and much less sensitive.

Jan Felix Drexler, University of Bonn said: "In Brazil, a test for hepatitis C market costs more than $ 100 per sample. In contrast, ours is up to 19 dollars". The principle of the method is the same: the test recognized in the blood DNA sequences specific to hepatitis C. It will not only determine whether or not contamination but also to quantify. The test could also help monitor the success of therapy.