Screening for Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection by Use of a Fourth-Generation Antigen/Antibody Assay and Dried Blood Spots: In-Depth Analysis of Sensitivity and Performance Assessment in a Cross-Sectional Study.
We evaluated the performance of a fourth-generation antigen/antibody (Ag/Ab) assay for detecting HIV-1 infection on dried blood spots (DBS) both in a conventional laboratory environment and in an epidemiological survey corresponding to a real-life situation. Although a 2-log loss of sensitivity compared to that with plasma was observed when using DBS in an analytical analysis, the median delay of positivity between DBS and crude serum during the early phase postacute infection was 7 days. The performance of the fourth-generation assay on DBS was approximately similar to that of a third-generation (antibody only) assay using crude serum samples. Among 2,646 participants of a cross-sectional study in a population of men having sex with men, 428 DBS were found reactive, but negative results were obtained from 5 DBS collected from individuals who self-reported a positive HIV status, confirmed by detection of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs in their DBS. The data generated allowed us to estimate a sensitivity of 98.8% of the fourth-generation assay/DBS strategy in a high-risk population, even including a broad majority of individuals on ARV treatment among those HIV positive. Our study brings additional proofs that DBS testing using a fourth-generation immunoassay is a reliable strategy able to provide alternative approaches for both individual HIV testing and surveillance of various populations.
['Stefic|Karl|K|0000-0002-9686-9194', 'Guinard|Jerome|J|', 'Peytavin|Gilles|G|', 'Saboni|Leïla|L|', 'Sommen|Cécile|C|', 'Sauvage|Claire|C|', 'Lot|Florence|F|', 'Laperche|Syria|S|', 'Velter|Annie|A|', 'Barin|Francis|F|0000-0003-4148-6900']
D019380:Anti-HIV Agents D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D059788:Dried Blood Spot Testing D006678:HIV D015483:HIV Antibodies D015488:HIV Antigens D015658:HIV Infections D006801:Humans D007118:Immunoassay D015203:Reproducibility of Results D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity D000069078:Seroconversion
human immunodeficiency virus DBS