Preliminary HIV test result disclosure: lessons we can learn

Abstract

Result disclosure following routine HIV testing can be challenging. We present an interesting real life scenario regarding a young heterosexual Caucasian male patient, who was diagnosed as having a positive HIV antibody result following a routine HIV screening test, his confirmatory test result was HIV negative. This article covers important lessons learnt from the case.

Clinical Utility of the Signal-to-Cutoff Ratio of Reactive HIV Antigen/Antibody Screening Tests in Guiding Emergency Physician Management

“…Emergency physicians (EPs), however, may be uncomfortable disclosing a result that may be false positive, worried about causing patient anxiety, and prefer to defer management decisions until the final HIV status is confirmed. 5…”

“…Emergency physicians (EPs), however, may be uncomfortable disclosing a result that may be false positive, worried about causing patient anxiety, and prefer to defer management decisions until the final HIV status is confirmed. 5 One of the most widely used fourth-generation tests, the Architect HIV antigen/antibody combination assay (Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, IL), has shown a sensitivity value of 100% and a specificity value close to 100%. [6][7][8][9][10] Despite these favorable test characteristics, when screening large populations with a relatively low baseline prevalence of undiagnosed HIV infection, false-positive tests will be encountered.…”

HIV test result disclosure

“…1 Tayal and Chawla got the problematic case of disclosure of preliminary HIV test result that is finally discordant with the confirmation test. 1 Indeed, the false positive in HIV screening can be expected and the discordance between screening and confirmation tests can be seen in real laboratory medicine practice (which can be due to many aetiologies ranging from false positive, error in specimen identification, disguised second specimen from the patients, etc.). Indeed, the HIV result is considered as a high-risk laboratory report that can be the problem in clinical practice.…”