Development of a United Kingdom National External Quality Assessment Scheme (UK NEQAS) for HIV point of care testing

Abdul-Khaliq, Catherine

The first set of specimens had been previously characterized by the Genscreen ULTRA HIV-1/2 EIA and INNO-LIA line assay to determine HIV group 1 or 2 and based on these results 20 specimens (16 HIV-1 and 4 HIV-2) were selected for testing. Selection was determined by HIV strain and the band profiles revealed on the line assay; a range of differing profiles were selected. Nineteen of the 20 HIV-positive specimens had been previously diluted using negative sera with dilutions varying from 1:10 to 1:117 and one specimen was not diluted. An additional specimen confirmed negative for HIV antibodies, Hepatitis B surface antigen and Hepatitis C antibodies was also included for testing. All specimens were re-tested using Genscreen ULTRA HIV-1/2 Ag/Ab EIA, these results were used as a reference for POCT results.