Evaluation of a dipstick method for the detection of human immunodeficiency virus infection

Abstract

Serology has been a fundamental tool to prevent post-transfusional infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and for epidemiological surveys, the first step to attempt control of the pandemia. Enzyme immunoassay is in widespread use. Nevertheless, simpler methods are needed in many countries, where laboratory facilities and trained personnel are limited, and HIV prevalence is high. The evaluation of a simple and noninstrumented HIV antibody test is presented here. The test employs synthetic antigens of HIV-1 and HIV-2 attached to the teeth of a polystyrene comb, which fit into the wells of standard microtiter plates where samples are diluted. Captured antibodies are developed with colloidal gold-labeled Protein A. Three seroconversion panels plus 662 samples were tested, including HIV-1 and HIV-2-infected individuals, normal blood donors, and a noninfected baby born to a seroreactive mother. When compared with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blot, the dipstick showed 100% sensitivity and 98.7% specificity. The simplicity of result evaluations and excellent reagent stability make the dipstick suitable for small blood banks and for epidemiological surveys.

Evaluation of rapid diagnostic tests for the detection of human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2, hepatitis B surface antigen, and syphilis in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

“…The gold standard serologic tests for HIV are the enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and the Western blot. [1][2][3][4][5] The Determine HIV-1/2 (Abbott Laboratories), Serodia HIV (Fujirebio, Tokyo, Japan), and Capillus HIV-1/HIV-2 (Cambridge Biotech, Ltd., Galway, Ireland) product sensitivity and specificity calculations were based on the comparison of test results with an indirect enzyme immunoassay (Genscreen HIV-1/2; Sanofi, Tokyo, Japan) and a Western blot test (New Lav Blot I for HIV; Sanofi Diagnostic Pasteur, Paris, France) ( Figure 2). A total of 347 specimens that were classified as seropositive or seronegative by these gold standard serologic tests.…”

Towards Novel HIV-1 Serodiagnostic Tests without Vaccine-Induced Seroreactivity

“…With 1.5 million new infections and approximately 680,000 lives lost to AIDS-related illnesses in 2020, HIV remains a major world health problem ( 1 ). While the detection of HIV infection is accomplished by several methods, including the identification of viral proteins and the detection of viral nucleic acids in the blood of individuals living with HIV, the most common method detects antibodies produced in response to viral infection rather than the virus itself ( 2 – 5 ). HIV serological tests are accessible, inexpensive, and easy to use, which contributes to their widespread use ( 6 ).…”