KARACHI, Nov 29: The Hepatitis-C viral replication may be exploited to develop an effective vaccine and treatment strategy for this deadly disease. This was stated at a day-long workshop on molecular diagnostic techniques for infectious and non-infectious diseases.

The moot was held under the auspices of the Immunology and Infectious Disease Research Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, University of Karachi, says a statement issue on Tuesday.

The experts explained persistence of hepatitis viruses and the possible molecular targets for vaccine development treatment of the Hepatitis-C infections.

In the hands-on workshop, more than 100 physicians, microbiologists and other scientists from various institutions were trained in molecular diagnostic techniques using PCR and Real Time PCR for diagnosis of hepatitis and other diseases.

Prof Dr Ateef Qureshi, from St. Georges University Medical School, Grenada, West Indies, a visiting HEC Professor, and a former Microbiology student of Karachi University, spoke on viral hepatitis and the pathogenesis of causative viruses A - G, TT and others.

He said that the structure and properties of the nucleic acid and biology of the virus gave a clue for the mode of spread, its susceptibility to environmental factors and other disinfectants.

Dr Suhail Qureshi from the Aga Khan Medical University, Karachi, discussed in detail the molecular biology and evasion tactics of Hepatitis-C virus to survive in the host.

Dr Saeed Raees, CEO of Anagen Technologies, Inc. USA, a former graduate of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Karachi University, elaborated on molecular diagnostic techniques and application of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Real time PCR.

Prof Dr Shahana Urooj of Department of Microbiology, KU, reiterated that the lack of awareness about the various available technologies and shortage of trained manpower to use the sophisticated machines was one of the major drawbacks in early diagnosis and management of patients.

Dr Uzairul Ghani, Operational Director for GMS gave an informative talk on vaccines and problems encountered in their preparations.

A training session on user friendly PCR and Real-Time PCR machines was also conductedl.

The former chairman of the department of biochemistry, KU, Dr Shamim Ullah, distributed certificates among the participants.—APP