HIV self-test proves accurate
Study in an ER shows individuals successfully determined their own HIV status
By Nathan Seppa
PHILADELPHIA — Using basic written instructions and a standard testing kit, people can self-administer an HIV test with a degree of accuracy equal to what health-care workers achieve, according to a new study presented October 31 at a meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore offered people in the emergency room of an urban hospital the option of testing themselves for HIV while they were waiting. The 402 people who agreed to do a test were given a self-explanatory test kit that required either a pin-prick or a mouth swab. The participant then put a blood or saliva sample into a tube, and in 20 minutes the kit rendered a verdict of positive or negative for HIV.
Separately, hospital officials replicated the test on each person. The self-tests matched the hospital workers’ tests in 400 of the 402 cases, says Johns Hopkins clinical microbiologist Charlotte Gaydos. Overall, only two of the people tested positive for HIV, and in both of those two cases the self-test results matched the hospital results.
The kits, which detect antibodies against HIV, were the same ones health-care workers use in conducting routine HIV testing. Participants had no problems telling a positive result from a negative one, Gaydos says.