ELECTROCHEMICAL IMMUNOSENSOR FOR HEPATITIS A VIRUS (HAV) DETERMINATION IN FOOD AND CLINICAL SAMPLES

Hepatitis A is an acute infectious disease of the liver due to a picornavirus, Hepatitis A virus (HAV). Globally, the disease are believed to occur in around 1,4 million people a year eating or drinking contaminated food or water. Current legislation for water, shellfish (EC 2073/2005 EC B53/2004) and plant (EC 2073/2005) does not provide for any limitation due to the presence of HAV and other enteric viruses in the irrigation and housing water. In addition, there will be no official method for the detection of these viruses. Currently, the environmental presence of HAV virus is only determined after the outbreak. The diagnosis is based on the patient's symptoms and more specifically through the search for anti-HAV IgG antibodies in blood. In this work we show the development of a disposable electrochemical immunosensor for the detection of HAV antigens in food matrices and/or in the environment. This rapid and low-cost analysis method can involve the use of a portable instrument to perform measurements directly in the field. This electrochemical immunosensor is based on competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) format using screen printed electrodes. Results showed a working range between 1·10-6 – 1·10-2 IU/mL. The proposed system was applied to food and drinking water. The results obtained on real samples by the proposed immunosensor were compared with those of the qRT-PCR analysis, levels in different samples.