       Document 0452
 DOCN  M9630452
 TI    [Retrospective evaluation of western blot for detection of early HIV
       infections]
 DT    9603
 AU    Neifer S; Molz B; Institut fur Mikrobiologie und Hygiene im Berliner
       Betrieb fur; Zentrale Gesundheitliche Aufgaben.
 SO    Gesundheitswesen. 1995 Aug-Sep;57(8-9):489-93. Unique Identifier :
       AIDSLINE MED/96076785
 AB    The purpose of HIV diagnosis is to establish safely whether there is an
       infection or not. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) as
       screening test, and the western blot assay for confirmation is the most
       widely used serologic test system to get this information. Diagnostic
       problems occur if the two tests yield different results. In our 1993
       study 491 (4.4%) of 11,127 tested sera were reactive by ELISA. 39 (7.9%)
       of these samples could not be confirmed by western blot, giving negative
       or indeterminate results. In addition, 370 ELISA-negative samples were
       tested by HIV-1 western blot to detect the infection in the early stage.
       115 (31%) of these sera showed indeterminate western blot patterns, the
       other samples were negative. Results of follow-up investigations of 26
       (Table 1) or 11 (Table 2) persons with indefinite serodiagnosis were
       analysed. HIV infection was not detected in any of these cases. In the
       literature, persons whose sera were reactive according to ELISA and were
       indeterminate in western blot, had a 3-5% probability of an aisting HIV
       infection. In contrast, indeterminate western blot patterns in
       ELISA-negative sere were without significance for the prognosis as to
       whether a person was or was not HIV-infected.
 DE    *AIDS Serodiagnosis  *Blotting, Western  Comparative Study  English
       Abstract  Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay  Human  HIV
       Infections/*DIAGNOSIS  *HIV-1  Predictive Value of Tests  Retrospective
       Studies  JOURNAL ARTICLE

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).

