SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online

 
vol.22 issue1Transition to an in-facility electronic Tuberculosis register: Lessons from a South African pilot projectThe effects of Teen Clubs on retention in HIV care among adolescents in Windhoek, Namibia author indexsubject indexarticles search
Home Pagealphabetic serial listing  

Services on Demand

Article

Indicators

Related links

  • On index processCited by Google
  • On index processSimilars in Google

Share


Southern African Journal of HIV Medicine

On-line version ISSN 2078-6751
Print version ISSN 1608-9693

Abstract

KEAL, Josephine et al. False-positive rapid diagnostic tests in paediatric and obstetric patients in South Africa. South. Afr. j. HIV med. (Online) [online]. 2021, vol.22, n.1, pp.1-4. ISSN 2078-6751.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/sajhivmed.v22i1.1186.

INTRODUCTION: Providing easily accessible, quick and accurate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing services (HTS) is central to achieving the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) 90-90-90 targets. Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for HIV are affordable and technically easy to perform. Two positive RDTs from different manufacturers are required to make a diagnosis of HIV in South Africa. Difficulty arises when there are discordant results from the two kits. In this case report, we will discuss four instances of false-positive RDTs PATIENT PRESENTATION: Case 1 is a 10-year-old female, referred for initiation of antiretroviral treatment (ART). She was diagnosed using two of the same brand RDT at her local clinic. Case 2 is a 21-year-old female who presented to obstetric admissions in labour. Case 3 is a 39-year-old female who was screened for HIV during a routine antenatal appointment. Case 4 is a 22-year-old female who was admitted 21 days postpartum with puerperal sepsis. All four cases had discordant RDTs when screened for HIV at our facility MANAGEMENT AND OUTCOME: The results of all the investigations conducted on all four patients confirmed HIV negative status. The reference laboratory verified the results and reran the RDTs, which remained discordant. This confirmed a false-positive result in all four cases with the screening RDT. CONCLUSION: With high numbers tested and a low yield of new cases, each individual case of discordancy may cause unnecessary distress, confusion and treatment, particularly in high-risk scenarios like pregnancy. Trends of false-positive and discordant RDT results should be monitored and inform HTS guidelines

Keywords : HIV; rapid diagnostic test; discordant; diagnostic dilemmas; pregnancy.

        · text in English     · English ( pdf )

 

Creative Commons License All the contents of this journal, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License