Tag Archives: AIDS/HIV

June 2023—For HIV and HCV algorithmic testing, the workflow options have risks to consider. Molecular testing performed as an automatic reflex on the same sample used for the serologic testing risks carryover contamination, and requiring a dedicated sample for the molecular assay risks incomplete testing.

July 2022—Thanks to more than two years’ experience with SARS-CoV-2, perhaps at no point in U.S. history has the general public been as aware of antigen and PCR testing, and the difference between them, as it is now.

June 2022—By revealing the value of a diagnostic algorithm using quantitative RNA as the second test to confirm reactive HIV screening results, Daniel Gromer, MD, and colleagues say their simulation modeling suggests clinical improvement over the standard-of-care algorithm, and at lower cost if HIV specimen positivity is high.

June 2020—Best practices for HIV primary diagnostic testing and rapid detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex are clarified and codified in new checklist requirements in the 2020 Laboratory Accreditation Program checklist edition published June 4.

September 2019—The results of a clinical trial of a rapid assay for dual detection of HIV and syphilis were reported at the 2019 HIV Diagnostics Conference in March. If approved by the FDA, where it has been under consideration since 2018, the Chembio Diagnostic Systems assay would be the first point-of-care assay of its kind on the U.S. market.

August 2019—For HIV testing, a three-step algorithm that differs from the one recommended since 2014 can potentially reduce the number of tests performed and speed up the availability of viral load results, according to a CDC analysis presented at the HIV Diagnostics Conference in March.

July 2019—Qualitative HIV-2 RNA testing to resolve discordant HIV-2 results may be warranted but seldom results in confirmation of HIV-2 infection, Linda M. Styer, PhD, illustrated with data at the 2019 HIV Diagnostics Conference in March.

June 2019—Abbott unveiled a new and improved fourth-generation prototype HIV assay at the 2019 HIV Diagnostics Conference in March. In an Abbott-funded study, the prototype assay was compared with the fourth-generation Abbott Architect HIV Ag/Ab Combo and Roche Elecsys HIV Combi PT run on the Cobas e602.

September 2017—Three years—including a total eclipse of the sun—have sped by since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Association of Public Health Laboratories recommended a new HIV diagnostic testing algorithm for laboratories. In 2014, the algorithm was seen as bringing HIV test ordering up to speed with the advances in HIV test technology and increasing the accuracy and reliability of HIV screening and diagnosis. Have laboratories made the adjustment, and is the CDC/APHL algorithm proving workable and worthwhile?

June 2016—Laboratories that use the HIV testing algorithm the CDC recommended in 2014 report shorter turnaround times for those with detectable antibodies. And among state and local public health laboratories that responded to a 2015 survey, more than half report having implemented the algorithm.

May 2016—In 1985, when the first test for HIV—then called human T-cell lymphotropic virus type III—became available, it was approved for screening blood products but not for diagnostic use. A diagnostic test for antibody to HIV-1 was soon approved. Over the subsequent 30-plus years, further iterations of HIV screening tests have been made, with increasing sensitivity and specificity and a shorter window to detection. Fifth-generation tests are now under review. CAP TODAY asked Eileen Burd, PhD, D(ABMM), to discuss the evolution of HIV diagnostics and algorithms for using them and to give a qualitative evaluation of the pending fifth-generation assay.

December 2013—Screening to detect HIV infection is poised to make a leap into the 21st century. In his presentations on the proposed new screening algorithm, Bernard M. Branson, MD, points out that in 1989, when the now outmoded algorithm was recommended, the telephone booth was a common sight and the “portable” computer was the size of a small suitcase. Dr. Branson, associate director for laboratory diagnostics in the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also points out that 1989 was the year of the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and the Tiananmen Square massacre.