Force protection and infectious risk mitigation from suicide bombers

Pedestrian suicide bombers (SB) pose an infectious threat to United States (U.S.) forces. The objective of this study is to evaluate the use of rapid human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody assays under contaminated field conditions and develop plans to mitigate the infectious threat. Twenty-six commercially available rapid HIV antibody assays were contaminated with environmental substances. Half of the tests were conducted with HIV-1 antibody (Ab) positive controls and half with HIV Ab negative controls. There were no test failures. Using statistical approximations to evaluate the plausibility of a zero failure rate, the upper 95% confidence limit for the occurrence of a test failure by chance is at most 10.8%. These results suggest the test's success is less likely because of chance and further studies should be conducted for validation. Regardless of the methodology, it is important to develop plans to mitigate infectious risks from pedestrian suicide bombers.