A NEW-GENERATION OF SERUM ANTI-HIV ANTIBODY IMMUNOCAPTURE ASSAY FOR SALIVA TESTING

Background: Epidemiological studies need easier tools to evaluate HIV prevalence, particularly in high-risk groups under difficult field con ditions. Testing saliva antibody with accurate immunoassay could serve as an alternative to serum testing. Objectives: To evaluate performan ces on saliva of a novel commercially available assay for anti-HIV ant ibody. Study design: Samples of saliva from 530 patients were tested f or the presence of HIV antibodies with a third generation commercially available serum-screening kit and the use of a sample diluent adapted to saliva. Results: Compared with serum sampling the sensitivity and specificity of oral sampling were respectively, 100 and 99.8%. Conclus ion: The ICE HIV-1.0.2 assay used on saliva could be an efficient and non-invasive epidemiological tool for HIV testing. (C) 1997 Elsevier S cience B.V.