The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the etiological agent of the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, (AIDS), a disease of great concern in the medical world. The genome of this virus is found arranged in nine genes and by two identical structures named terminal repetitions on the 5' and 3' extremities. As our objective, the sensitivity of the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Enzyme-Linked Immunoabsorbent Assay (ELISA) tests were analyzed as an evaluation for blood donors who are infected with HIV. Two hundred samples from donors and patients from the HEMOPA Foundation were analyzed, with the positive and indeterminate standard of the ELISA test. In the ELISA test selection, the results were thirty-five positive samples, seventy-five negative samples and ninety indeterminate samples. These samples were subsequently submitted to the PCR test where twenty-five samples had a positive result and one hundred seventy five had negative results. With these results we conclude that only samples that had a relation between the optical density and the cutoff above three (ELISA) were found positive in the PCR test.
HIV-1; PCR; ELISA
