title: Early detection of human immunodeficiency virus infection using third- and fourth-generation screening assays.
abstract: Early detection of infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is critical for clinical diagnosis and treatment of patients, as well as for ensuring the safety of blood transfusion products. Recently, a number of fourth-generation HIV screening assays have been developed that offer increased sensitivity over earlier tests by combining detection of anti-HIV antibodies with detection of the p24 viral antigen. Previously, six different HIV assays were compared against a broad range of 30 seroconversion panels. In the present study, three of the newer fourth-generation assays were tested together with three of the third-generation HIV antibody-only assays. This extensive analysis highlights (i) the importance of p24 antigen detection for early diagnosis, (ii) the improved sensitivity of fourth-generation assays over antibody-only tests, and (iii) the superior performance of the Vidas Duo assay, which allows reduction of the diagnostic window by up to 2 weeks. Finally, the results emphasize the detection limitations of the different assays and suggest improvements for future HIV screening assays.
authors: Laboratoire Claude Lévy, France.
authors: T D
authors: TD
authors: Ly
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Laperche
authors: A M
authors: AM
authors: Couroucé
mesh_terms: D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D016655:HIV Core Protein p24 / Q000097:blood*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology; D006679:HIV Seropositivity; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic / Q000592:standards / Q000821:virology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D015483:HIV Antibodies; D016655:HIV Core Protein p24; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic