Wh. Koch et al., Evaluation of United States-licensed human immunodeficiency virus immunoassays for detection of group M viral variants, J CLIN MICR, 39(3), 2001, pp. 1017-1020
Six Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-licensed human immunodeficiency viru
s type 1 (HIV-1) and HIV-1/2 immunoassays, including five enzyme immunoassa
ys and one rapid test, were challenged with up to 250 serum samples collect
ed from various global sites. The serum samples were from individuals known
to be infected with variants of HIV-1 including group M subtypes A, B, B',
C, D, E, F, and G and group O. All immunoassays detected the vast majority
of samples tested. Three samples produced low signal over cutoff values in
one or more tests: a clade B sample, an untypeable sample with a low antib
ody titer, and a group O sample. It is concluded that HIV-1 immunoassays us
ed in the United States are capable of detecting most HIV-1 group M variant
s.