NSW State Reference Laboratory for HIV, St Vincent's Centre for Applied Medical Research, Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia; The Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Electronic address: [Email]
The availability of effective direct-acting antiviral therapy for hepatitis C virus (HCV) has led to a need for simplified diagnostic pathways. Barriers to treatment uptake, specifically in people who inject drugs and in remote and resource limited settings, may be overcome by utilizing novel collection methods, such as dried blood spots (DBS). However, there are currently no registered assays for HCV RNA testing from DBS samples.