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Updated: Sep 9, 2026
Dried Blood Spots - Preparing and Processing for Use in Immunoassays and in Molecular Techniques
Published on: March 13, 2015
Detection of HIV RNA in dried blood spots and oral fluids
Joanne D Stekler1, George Ure, Joan Dragavon
1aDepartment of Medicine bDepartment of Epidemiology cLaboratory Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
Abstract:
: We evaluated detection of HIV-1 RNA from dried blood spots (DBS) and oral fluid specimens. Between February 2010 and August 2014, HIV-1 was newly diagnosed in eight (2.6%) study participants who had median blood HIV-1 RNA of 61 500 copies/ml (interquartile range 7500-146 000). RNA was detected in seven (87.5%) DBS and three (37.5%) oral fluid swabs but was not detected in either specimen from one participant. DBS may be a reasonable specimen collection method to detect acute infection.
