Testing for HIV antibodies should be offered on a same-day basis.
We review our experience of testing over 22 000 patients who requested HIV antibody results on a same-day basis. We find that such a service can be provided without compromising the quality of laboratory work or increasing the cost per test. This service is popular with patients, who appear to contain high risk individuals because 2.8 were shown to be HIV-positive. By reducing bureaucratic hurdles, same-day testing clinics may encourage people to come forward for HIV testing and provide a means of offering chemotherapy (directed either at HIV itself or at opportunistic infections) without delay. We thus argue for the proposition.Copyright 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Department of Virology, Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust, Pond Street, London NW3 2QG, UK.
G
Clewley
F
Mattes
M
Johnson