title: Performance of Kalon herpes simplex virus 2 assay using dried blood spots among young women in Uganda.
abstract: The study evaluated the performance of the Kalon HSV-2 assay on dried blood spots (DBS) of various dilutions compared with plasma from young women aged 18-24 years in Uganda. We estimated the sensitivity and specificity of three DBS dilutions using plasma as the reference. All three evaluated DBS dilutions yielded low sensitivities and specificities with DBS 1:2 yielding the highest concurrence. Other HSV-2 assays should be examined with regard to their utility for testing DBS.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Research Laboratory (MOLAB). Department of Pathology, School of Biomedical Science, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
authors.forename: Sam L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Nsobya
authors.affiliation: Population Council, Washington, D.C., United States.
authors.forename: Paul C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Hewett
authors.affiliation: Population Council, Washington, D.C., United States.
authors.forename: Sam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kalibala
authors.affiliation: Population Council, New York, New York, United States.
authors.forename: Barbara S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Mensch
keywords: DBS; HSV-2; Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2; Kalon; dried blood spots