Oral mucosal transudate testing for HIV-1 antibodies: a clinical update

The HIV epidemic and the social and clinical responses to it have changed dramatically in recent years in ways that significantly affect the nursing profession. In scope, the HIV epidemic has broadened demographically and geographically, shifting the burden of the epidemic and continuing to place stress on our health care and social service delivery systems. During the past 2 years, there have been clinical advances in the ability to treat HIV disease as a more chronic, manageable condition, making it more important than ever for infected individuals to know their serostatus. A recently available HIV-1 antibody test that uses oral mucosal transudate (OMT) fluid that compares favorably to serum in reliability, because it is based on the same enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay Western blot algorithm, has become available. The OMT test for HIV involves simple, safe, and non-invasive specimen collection that offers clinical and outreach advantages to nurses in AIDS care who provide counseling and testing.