Toward a More Perfect World … or at Least Better HIV Testing Algorithms
1987: State of the Art Western blot ELISA
1987: State of the Art
2005: State of the Art
2005: Still the Gold Standard? Western blot ELISA
Objectives Differ Across Settings Blood banks Donor screening: ↑ Sensitivity Confirmatory testing: ↑ Predictive value Reference laboratory ↑ Efficiency ↓ Cost ↓ Ambiguity HIV-2: ↑ Sensitivity, ↑ Surveillance Point-of care: rapid test combinations ↑ Positive predictive value ↑ Receipt of confirmed results Just about everybody, everywhere: ↓ Indeterminates
Assessment of Alternative Options How do we measure improvements? Gold standard: 14K or 24K? Indeterminate results don’t fit into 2 X 2 tables We have “truth” on our side Longitudinal follow-up “Realized sensitivity” The importance of testing is not the test result but in getting individuals test results … into care … on treatment
Moving Forward From Here Ready, Fire, …………… AIM!