Performance of a transcription-mediated-amplification HIV-1 RNA assay in pooled specimens.
BACKGROUND
Very limited data exist on the comparative performance of nucleic acid amplification tests (NATs) for the screening of pooled specimens for acute human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.


METHODS
In this study, we compared a transcription-mediated-amplification assay (Procleix HIV-1 Discriminatory Assay, [TMA]) with a branched DNA assay (Bayer Versant HIV-1 RNA 3.0 assay, [bDNA]).


RESULTS
After re-testing 1552 samples that were negative for HIV RNA by bDNA, we found one additional positive sample with the TMA assay.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that TMA could potentially detect acute HIV infections missed by other technologies.
Zetola
Nicola M
NM
Division of Infectious Diseases, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States.
Mintie
Ann
A
Liska
Sally
S
Wong
Ernest
E
Williams
Joan Dunn
JD
Busch
Michael P
MP
Klausner
Jeffrey D
JD
D021121:Branched DNA Signal Amplification Assay; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D021141:Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D012367:RNA, Viral