Normal range: Negative
Comment: Present screening tests for HIV antibodies are ELISA procedures which use recombinant antigen products. Different antibodies are detected. Both the sensitivity and specificity of these tests are extremely high, but positive results on a screen should be repeated using a new specimen. If positive a second time they should be confirmed with
a Western blot procedure. Because of the grave implications of a positive result, it is recommended that a second sample be assayed to eliminate false positives due to switched samples or sample contamination. Before patients develop antibody (window phase) in early disease, detection of HIV nucleic acid by PCR or branched DNA assays can be used for diagnosis
Sample: serum