Different positive predictive values of commercially available human immunodeficiency virus enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.

Clark, JL.; Coates, TJ.; Lescano, AG; Castillo, R; Meza, R; Jones, FR; Leon, S; Pajuelo, J; Caceres, CF; Klausner, JD.

En: Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, 2006.

We report our findings concerning the positive predictive values (PPVs) of commercially available human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody tests in an evaluation of HIV prevalence in Peru. The specificity of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) varies according to multiple factors, including antigen characteristics, avidity of serum antibodies, patient comorbidities, and specimen processing (2–4). Despite high test specificity, our study found significant variability in the PPVs of several commercially available HIV ELISA kits.