The Performance of a Rapid Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Assay - Genie II HIV-1/HIV-2 in the Screening of HIV

HIV testing and counseling is a key strategy in HIV prevention programs because it is considered the gateway to HIV prevention, care, treatment and support interventions. The evolution in diagnostic technology has led to the development of a wide range of simple, rapid HIV assays.(The aim of the present paper was to study the performance of a rapid HIV kit (Genie II HIV-1/HIV-2) in comparison to the gold standard technique.)This study was carried out in the Fitness clinic in the Department of Health in Dubai, UAE on 304 serum samples, to evaluate the performance of a rapid HIV kit (Genie II HIV-1/HIV-2) in comparison to the gold standard technique (ELISA and western blot techniques). The results showed that Genie II HIV-1/HIV-2 assay has a high specificity (100%) and sensitivity (99.3%), which combined with its simple use, providing results in minutes, minimal laboratory equipment and it can be used in resource-limited settings makes it a highly valuable screening tool for HIV. It is concluded from this study that application of such effective rapid techniques for the identification of recent HIV seroconversion will likely facilitate studies designed to derive incidence estimated in different parts of the world especially in resource-limited settings such as rural areas in developing countries. It is recommended that more studies should be carried out on different new rapid HIV assays on larger population in low and high prevalence settings. In addition, combination of test algorithms needs further research work.