Diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection in infants by use of dried blood spots and an ultrasensitive p24 antigen assay.
We tested 617 dried blood spots (DBS) from human immunodeficiency virus-exposed infants from five countries using an ultrasensitive p24 antigen assay (Up24). The sensitivity was 94.4% (67/71) and the specificity was 100% (431/431) for infants with DBS specimens <or=20 months old; DBS older than 30 months demonstrated only 72.2% sensitivity (39/54) (P < 0.001) but displayed 100% specificity (61/61).
Cachafeiro
Ada
A
Department Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-7290, USA.
Sherman
Gayle G
GG
Sohn
Annette H
AH
Beck-Sague
Consuelo
C
Fiscus
Susan A
SA
D001769:Blood / Q000821:virology*; D003890:Desiccation; D016655:HIV Core Protein p24 / Q000097:blood*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods*
D016655:HIV Core Protein p24