HIV Diagnostic testing in the COVID-19 era... Are Clinical Laboratories being overly SENSITIVE?

While COVID-19 continues to be the most pressing diagnostic focus for clinical laboratories, HIV remains a serious global health concern with 1.5 million new HIV infections in 2020.

 

The early diagnosis of acute HIV infection is crucial, when HIV is most infectious, and the efficacy of antiretroviral therapies is at its greatest. In response to the need for earlier detection, HIV diagnostic testing strategies have been improved and deployed globally, including updated 2014 CDC (Center for Disease Control) HIV testing guidelines. Additionally, HIV test designs and sensitivity have greatly improved the detection of acute HIV infections. However, highly sensitive HIV tests are being challenged by interferences and cross-reactivity from SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccines. This has resulted in clinical laboratories dealing with time consuming and costly false-positive HIV results.

 

This webinar will explore the current state of HIV diagnostic testing and discuss several studies detailing COVID infection and vaccine cross-reactivity, along with the longitudinal specificity of the BioPlex 2200 HIV Ag/Ab differentiating assay.

 

Learning Objectives