Enzyme immunoassays are most widely used screening tests for antibodies to human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV). Nevertheless, the need of simpler, noninstrumented tests is evident in many parts of the world, where laboratory facilities and trained personnel are limited, and HIV incidence is high. A recently developed variant of gelatin-particle agglutination tests, Serodia HIV-1/2 (Fujirebio Inc., Tokyo, Japan), is one of such simple and noninstrumented tests. To evaluate its utility, 3311 serum samples (281 anti-HIV-1 positive, 8 anti-HIV-2 positive and 3022 anti-HIV-1/2 negative) obtained from 2632 individuals from Slovenia, other parts of former Yugoslavia and Senegal were investigated. No false-negative results and only one false-positive result were obtained during the procedures, giving overall sensitivity and specificity of the particle agglutination test of 100% and 99.97%, respectively. We have concluded that Serodia HIV-1/2 test is highly specific and sensitive for detection of anti-HIV-1/2 antibodies, suitable for small blood banks and for epidemiological surveys.

Slovenian AIDS Reference Center Institute of Microbiology and Immunology Medical Faculty of Ljubljana Slovenia