[Specificity of a new test for detection of antibodies to HIV-1/-2 in blood donors].

BACKGROUND

The aim of the continuous development of anti-HIV-ELISA tests is the improvement of their specificity and sensitivity. With this study the precision and the specificity of the Cobas Core Anti-HIV-1/HIV-2 DAGS, a 3rd-generation anti-HIV assay, were evaluated.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

1,557 frozen and 1,654 fresh sera from blood donors were tested with the Cobas Core Anti-HIV-1/HIV-2 DAGS (Roche Diagnostic Systems, Basel, Switzerland) and the Abbott Recombinant HIV-1/HIV-2 3rd Generation EIA (Abbott GmbH Diagnostika, Wiesbaden, Germany), which was used as a reference assay. Positive sera were tested with a Westernblot. 34 sera, previously not negative in the Abbott test, were retested with the two anti-HIV assays and with a Westernblot. The intra- and inter-assay precision was evaluated with the positive and negative controls of the test kits and with control sera.

RESULTS

The intra- and inter-assay precision of the Roche test was very good. The specificity of the Roche test is 99.91%. Out of 3,211 tested sera those of three blood donors were false positive in the Roche test and one sample false positive in the Abbott test.

CONCLUSIONS

The precision and specificity of the new anti-HIV test fulfil the demands of transfusion medicine.