title: Comparison of sensitivities and specificities of latex agglutination and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detection of antibodies to the human immunodeficiency virus in African sera.
abstract: The sensitivities, specificities, and positive and negative predictive values of the Cambridge BioScience Corp. (Worcester, Mass.) human immunodeficiency virus latex agglutination assay were compared by using three different blood preparations. By using the manufacturer's standard test method with diluted sera, the sensitivity of latex agglutination was 100%, the specificity was 99.58%, and the positive and negative predictive values were 99.26 and 100%, respectively. Use of diluted whole blood or undiluted whole blood did not significantly affect the sensitivity (mean, 99.72%), specificity (mean, 99.47%), positive predictive value (mean, 99.07%), or negative predictive value (mean, 99.89%). The latex agglutination assay is a simple, rapid assay for the detection of human immunodeficiency virus that would be useful in Third World countries or other areas where enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays are not available or cannot be used.
authors.affiliation: Project SIDA, Blood Bank Center, Mama Yemo Hospital, Kinshasa, Zaire.
authors.forename: H L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Francis
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kabeya
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kafuama
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Riggins
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Colebunders
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ryder
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Curran
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Izaley
authors.forename: T C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Quinn
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D015023:Democratic Republic of the Congo; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007841:Latex Fixation Tests
chemical_list: D015483:HIV Antibodies