ELISA FALSE POSITIVITY IN RELATION TO HIV -1 PREV ALENCE IN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

ABSTRACT: A close investigation of data accumulated over several years at the National Referral Laboratory for AIDS (NRLA), revealed a certain pattern in the number of false positive results that occur in population groups with a given prevalence of HIV -1 infection. To provide more accurate information regarding this observation 8850 serum samples from females with multi-partner sexual contact (MPSC) residing in different regions of Ethiopia with varying HIV -1 prevalence rates, were collected and tested using 1st and 2nd generation enzyme immunoassays (EIA) and a western blot. The results obtained from this study suggest that the rate of the occurrence of false positive enzyme linked imrnuno-sorbent assay (ELISA) results during laboratory testing for HIV -1 antibody is (regardless of the quality of antigen used) inversely proportional to the prevalence of HIV-l in a given population group.