title: Comparative field evaluation of HIV rapid diagnostic assays using serum, urine, and oral mucosal transudate specimens.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Comparative field utility of selected HIV-1 assays using homologous collections of serum, urine and oral mucosal transudate (OMT) was determined in adult populations from a tuberculosis hospital and STD clinic in Djibouti, East Africa.
  
  
  METHODS
  Enzyme immunoassay with confirmatory Western blot was performed on all serum specimens for comparison with rapid, instrument-free assays (SUDS HIV-1, Murex: TestPack HIV-1/2. Abbott; and COMBAIDS HIV 1 + 2, SPAN Diagnostics) using various specimen sources. Delayed (48 h post-collection) testing was also performed on urine. Sensitivity and specificity for the rapid assays, in descending order, were as follows: serum SUDS HIV-1 assay (100%, 98.3%), serum COMBAIDS HIV-1/2 assay (98.4%, 99.6%), and OMT SUDS HIV-1 assay (98.4%, 94.5%).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The OMT EIA optical density cutoff value was modified resulting in an improved specificity from 89.1 to 99.6%, however, sensitivity decreased from 100 to 98.5%. Urine EIA and rapid assays demonstrated unacceptable test performance for use as a screening test.
authors.affiliation: U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Tribble
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Rodier
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Saad
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Binson
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marrot
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Salah
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Omar
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Arthur
mesh_terms: D000351:Africa, Eastern / Q000453:epidemiology; D015153:Blotting, Western; D005122:Exudates and Transudates / Q000737:chemistry / Q000821:virology; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000652:urine / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000737:chemistry / Q000821:virology*; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry / Q000821:virology