Laboratory diagnosis of viral hepatitis in China: the present and the future.

Viral hepatitis is one of the most prevalent infectious diseases in China. To date, all five types, hepatitis A, B, C, D and E have been reported in China, and the incidences of all these types are high in the Chinese population. Serological tests are mainly used for the diagnosis of hepatitis A, B, C and E in patients, epidemiological surveys and for efficacy studies of vaccines. Currently, nucleic acid-based assays are only used in research and for evaluation of antiviral and immuno-therapies.