Early HIV & Hepatitis Detection Tests

HIV/ Hepatitis B and C Screen by PCR/ NAAT

Ultra early and exquisitely accurate HIV-1 (Groups M and O) RNA; HIV-2 RNA; and Hepatitis B and C RNA testing is available from The Wright Practice.

This tests for exposure just 10 days after a sexual encounter. Accuracy is more than 99%.

The technique utilises a fully automated system made by Roche and the testing method uses a technique called polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or NAAT (Nucleic Acid Amplification) to detect minuscule amounts of viral genetic material. The technique can be and is applied to bacterial diseases also.

Automation via the Roche Taq Multiplex device has enabled highly sensitive, highly specific and fully automated testing to be run on human blood with the early detection of HIV 1 and HIV 2 and Hepatitis B and C possible from 10 days post-exposure.

The technique has had most application in terms of screening the human blood supply from blood donors and has reduced the numbers of inadvertent contamination with HIV and Hepatitis B & C virus very considerably. The technique is also employed in organ donation settings where organs to be donated need to be very quickly screened for HIV 1; HIV 2, Hepatitis C, and Hepatitis B viruses.

The outcome is a highly sensitive, highly accurate detection methodology for detection of the identified viruses. The turnaround time is swift, taking a maximum of 5 working days.

This allows the early identification of newly infected HIV-positive patients, and also allows those who think they may have been infected to relax and enjoy considerable peace of mind.

The identification of patients newly infected with HIV is important because it presents several interventional opportunities. It allows for very early identification of newly infected HIV positive people which provides the opportunity to anticipate and if necessary terminate by the use of anti-retroviral drugs the seroconversion illness; to mitigate the chances of that infection being transmitted unknowingly onwards to another individual; possibly to alter the course of the HIV illness by allowing a very early intervention to limit immune system damage.

The window period for HIV 1 and Hepatitis C virus has to date depended very largely on the sensitivity of the HIV 1 and Hepatitis C antibody detection devices. This was improved on for HIV by the introduction of parallel screening with HIV 1 p24 antigen which reduces the HIV 1 detection interval by a week or so.