A comparison of four enzyme immunoassays for the simultaneous detection of HIV-1- and HIV-2-specific antibody

Abstract

The performance of four HIV 1 and 2 combined assays has been compared with current type-specific assays using three panels of sera. The first panel comprised single samples from 19 HIV-1-infected persons; the second panel comprised 19 sera from 16 HIV-2-infected persons. Samples from both these panels were titrated across interpolated end points of detectability. The third panel comprised sera from 5200 consecutive blood donors. The four combined assays, manufactured by Abbott Laboratories, Behring Laboratories, Diagnostics Pasteur and Wellcome Diagnostics Laboratories detected all anti-HIV-1 sera at high dilution; the immunometric assay from Wellcome was particularly proficient. All assays were broadly similar in their ability to detect sera from recently infected persons. The same assays were also effective in detecting anti-HIV 2 in sera, both from seropositive individuals and from a single recently-infected person, though none was as sensitive as an inhouse competitive EIA. When used for donor screening the repeat reactive rates for donors negative for HIV 1 and 2 antibodies ranged between 1.80% for Elavia Mixt from Pasteur, 0.27% Abbott combined and 0.15% for the Wellcome combined assays.