Open AccessDiagnosis of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection in Infants by Use of Dried Blood Spots and an Ultrasensitive p24 Antigen Assay
Author(s) -
Ada Cachafeiro,
Gayle Sherman,
Annette H. Sohn,
Consuelo M. Beck-Sague,
Susan A. Fiscus
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of clinical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.349
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1070-633X
pISSN - 0095-1137
DOI - 10.1128/jcm.01181-08
Subject(s) - dried blood , virology , spots , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , antigen , virus , viral disease , medicine , immunology , biology , pathology , chemistry , chromatography
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 ≤20 months old; DBS older than 30 months demonstrated only 72.2% sensitivity (39/54) (P < 0.001) but displayed 100% specificity (61/61).