Discordant hepatitis C serological testing in Australia and the implications for organ transplant programs

Discordant HCV serotesting may occur for 1 of 185 patients tested in higher risk populations. The majority of such tests represent falsely reactive tests although a small number may reflect partial seroreversion. Amongst Australian DOD, this represents 1 or 2 discordant cases per year. It is likely that if this discordant sample were from a donor with no blood borne virus risk factors, and was concurrently RNA negative, that HCV infectious risk would be extremely low.