Rapid HIV tests in acute care settings in an area of low HIV prevalence in Canada

Rapid HIV testing has the potential to improve medical care and reduce the transmission of infection. In this study, rapid HIV testing was performed on serum samples in acute care settings in five hospitals from urban and rural regions using the INSTI™ HIV-1/HIV-2 Rapid Antibody Test (bioLytical Laboratories, Richmond, British Columbia). Parallel standard HIV antibody tests were performed at the provincial reference laboratory. Patient demographics, indication for testing and risk behaviours were collected. From April 30, 2007 and November 23, 2009, 1708 individuals were tested: 875 (50.3%) tests in pregnant women, 730 (42%) in source individuals in blood and body fluid exposures and 119 (5.8%) in acutely ill persons. Twenty-five (1.4%) samples were reactive by rapid HIV testing, of which 13 were reactive previously and 1 was a false reactive. Sensitivity of the rapid HIV test compared to standard HIV testing was 100%, specificity was 99.9%, the positive predictive value was 96% and the negative predictive value was 100%. The median time from specimen collection to availability of the rapid HIV result varied by site and ranged from 54 min to 1h 42 min. In this study, the INSTI™ HIV-1 Rapid Antibody test identified reactive and non-reactive samples with similar accuracy to the conventional testing algorithm and provided a reliable way to perform rapid HIV testing in acute care settings.