A Commitment to HIV Diagnostic Accuracy - a comment on "Towards more accurate HIV testing in sub-Saharan Africa: a multi-site evaluation of HIV RDTs and risk factors for false positives 'and' HIV misdiagnosis in sub-Saharan Africa: a performance of diagnostic algorithms at six testing sites".

A Commitment to HIV Diagnostic Accuracy - a comment on "Towards more accurate HIV testing in sub-Saharan Africa: a multi-site evaluation of HIV RDTs and risk factors for false positives 'and' HIV misdiagnosis in sub-Saharan Africa: a performance of diagnostic algorithms at six testing sites". J Int AIDS Soc. 2018 Aug;21(8):e25177 Authors: Kravitz Del Solar AS, Parekh B, Douglas MO, Edgil D, Kuritsky J, Nkengasong J Abstract As part of the global response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is committed to the provision of high-quality services and ensuring testing accuracy. Two recently published papers focusing on HIV testing and misdiagnosis in sub-Saharan Africa by Kosack et al. report on evaluations of HIV rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) and found lower than expected specificity and sensitivity on some tests when used in certain geographic locations. The magnitude of PEPFAR's global HIV response has been possible due to the extensive use of RDTs, which have made HIV diagnosis accessible all over the world. We take the opportunity to address concerns raised about the potential implications that these findings could have on real-world HIV testing accuracy. PEPFAR supported countries adhere to the normative guidance by World Health Organization (WHO) supporting algorithms which require sequential positive tests for diagnostic accuracy. An analysis of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) ...
Source: Journal of the International AIDS Society - Category: Infectious Diseases Tags: J Int AIDS Soc Source Type: research