Insights from the 2010 HIV Diagnostics Conference

Evaluation of the performance of the Abbott ARCHITECT HIV Ag/Ab Combo Assay

“…Given the increased sensitivity of combination assays to detect AHIs relative to screening and supplemental tests (WB or immunofluorescent assays) currently in use, 6,27,28 new algorithms, such as those proposed at the 2010 HIV Diagnostics Conference, should be considered. [29][30] In one alternative HIV diagnostic algorithm, fourth-generation assays, or other similarly sensitive assays, can be used as the screening test, and when reactive, would be followed by an HIV-1/HIV-2 discriminatory assay, such as Multispot (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Redmond, WA).…”