Evaluation of commercial HIV test kits used in Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Accurate and reliable diagnosis of HIV plays a central role in any effective HIV intervention. We decided to evaluate 4 commercial HIV test kits to determine their reliability for use in developing countries. METHODS: Serum samples obtained from clients accessing tertiary health services at the STI clinic, Jos University Teaching Hospital were used to evaluate Sdbioline, Diaspot, Determine and DIALAB Elisa kits. A Western blot was used as the reference kit. RESULTS: DETERMINE kit gave 34 positive and 58 negative reactions and the positive sera were all confirmed by Western blot while DIASPOT kit gave 27 false negative results, which was at variance with the reference kit result. Other kits were SDBIOLINE with 5 false positive and DIALAB Elisa kit, which gave one false positive, and one false negative result. CONCLUSION: We conclude that Determine, SDbioline and DIALAB Elisa kits are reliable for HIV antibody testing in Nigeria and other developing countries.