John Libbey Eurotext




Sensitivity of HIV infection screening assays in 2001
Annales de Biologie Clinique. Volume 60, Number 3, 307-15, Mai - Juin 2002, Articles originaux
Résumé Article gratuit
Author(s) : S. Laperche, T.D. Ly
Summary : Early detection of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is critical for clinical diagnosis and treatment of patients, as well as for ensuring the safety of blood products. Recently, fourth-generation HIV screening assays have been developed with the objective to offer an increased sensitivity by combining detection of anti-HIV antibodies (Ab) with detection of the p24 viral antigen (Ag). Eight different HIV assays commercially available in France (five fourth-generation HIV screening assays and three third-generation HIV Ab-only assays) were compared in a broad number of seroconversion panels (n = 27). This extensive analysis highlights: 1) the importance of p24 Ag detection for early diagnosis; 2) the improved sensitivity of fourth-generation assays over Ab-only tests. In conclusion, these results emphasize the detection limitations of the different assays and suggest improvements for future HIV screening assays.
Keywords : Human immunodeficiency virus - Fourth-generation HIV screening assays - Early detection - HIV Ab - p24 Ag.

Sensitivity of HIV infection screening assays in 2001