ABSTRACT
Introduction:
Many factors can impact the performance of diagnostic assays for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, affecting the results of population surveys.
Objective:
The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of point-of-care rapid tests (RT) used for HIV diagnosis as compared to conventional tests in blood samples from a population of transvestites and transsexual women.
Methods:
A total of 1,385 samples with HIV RT results were submitted to Instituto Adolfo Lutz for evaluation by conventional laboratory tests.
Results:
HIV positivity was confirmed by conventional laboratory tests in 100% of the 240 (17.3%) samples with reactive RT. However, 1,145 (82.7%) samples with non-reactive RT results were evaluated; three (0.3%) tested positive and one (0.1%), indeterminate for HIV. Although a proportion of discordant results were found, the point-of-care RTs showed a high confirmation rate when compared to the serological tests.
Conclusion:
The data of this study corroborate the importance of adopting effective management tools to ensure quality of HIV infection diagnosis.
Key words:
HIV antibodies; immunoassay; point-of-care testing; transgender persons; viral load; seroconversion