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| LETTER TO THE EDITOR |
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| Year : 2015 | Volume
: 29
| Issue : 2 | Page : 99 |
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Loss of follow-up serological test of case with window period anti-HIV seronegative
Pathum Sookalomdee1, Viroj Wiwanitkit2
1 TWS Primary Care Center, Bangkok, Thailand
2 Tropical Medicine Unit, Hainan Medical University, Hainan, China
| Date of Web Publication | 9-Mar-2016 |
Correspondence Address:
Pathum Sookalomdee
TWS Primary Care Center, Bangkok
Thailand
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0972-6691.178278
How to cite this article:
Sookalomdee P, Wiwanitkit V. Loss of follow-up serological test of case with window period anti-HIV seronegative. Indian J Allergy Asthma Immunol 2015;29:99 |
How to cite this URL:
Sookalomdee P, Wiwanitkit V. Loss of follow-up serological test of case with window period anti-HIV seronegative. Indian J Allergy Asthma Immunol [serial online] 2015 [cited 2023 Feb 3];29:99. Available from: https://www.ijaai.in/text.asp?2015/29/2/99/178278 |
Sir,
The anti-HIV serology testing is the widely used immunological test in the present clinical practice. This test is considered a sensitive test and there must be a special process for this test. A specific requirement is the pre- and post-test counseling. The patient is freely allowed to have the blood test. The audit of HIV testing is recommended as a method for improve of quality in clinical service. [1] Here, the authors retrospective review the record on a serological test of cases receiving anti-HIV serological test in a medical center in Thailand. The special focus is on the follow-up serological test of the case with window period anti-HIV seronegative. Within a 1 year record, there are 80 cases with seronegative anti-HIV test result and within the window period anti-HIV. All of these cases got the posttest counseling. Of interest, only 50 cases (62.5%) had the follow-up visit to get retest for anti-HIV. It seems that there is a concern on the problem of loss of follow-up serological test of the case with window period anti-HIV seronegative. According to the recent report by Taylor et al., [2] "the probability of a false-negative result is 0.01 at 80 days' postexposure for third-generation tests and at 42 days for fourth-generation tests," hence, it is no doubt that maintenance of follow-up visit might be the aim for posttest counseling for any cases with window period anti-HIV seronegative test result.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
| References | |  |
| 1. | Thompson C, Smith H. Audit of HIV testing: Who, why and when? Int J STD AIDS 2001;12:260-3.  |
| 2. | Taylor D, Durigon M, Davis H, Archibald C, Konrad B, Coombs D, et al. Probability of a false-negative HIV antibody test result during the window period: A tool for pre- and post-test counselling. Int J STD AIDS 2015;26:215-24. |
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