[Study of fast test for HIV-AIDS antibody screening: INSTI-HIV1-HIV2]

The INSTI-HIV1-HIV2 rapid HIV/AIDS antibody screening test was applied to 1500 capillary venous and gingival blood samples which were simultaneously tested with the ELISA test. The samples included 75 specimens from confirmed seropositive patients 30 from patients recently diagnosed with HIV and 4 from patients in early seroconversion (OD below 0.500 nm). All tests on seropositive samples were done on serum plasma and whole blood. Dilutions were prepared with distilled water physiological serum or buffer in order to increase the lowest detectable OD using a photocolorimeter with this technique. Both the INSTI and ELISA tests detected 109 positive and 1391 negative cases with no indeterminate cases. The 109 seropositive samples were confirmed by the Chile’s Public Health Institute. The work describes the materials required the procedure and the visual criteria for recognizing positive or negative results or invalid tests. The tests on seropositive samples with different dilutions demonstrated that results were readable for dilutions less than 1:64. The simplicity rapidity small sample required easy manipulation by trained workers and minimal equipment needs of the INSTI test make it useful for HIV/AIDS screening. The results indicate the subject’s status at the moment of the test but are not adequate for ruling out early seroconversion. The test is not considered to provide absolute confirmation and would not be suitable for blood banks.