Comparison of commercial kits for the detection of antibody to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in Nigeria.

Four commercial kits for the detection of antibodies to HIV-1 were compared with regard to their sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value. The Wellcozyme competitive enzyme immunoassay was the least sensitive (62.5%), while Roche EIA, was the most sensitive (100%). All the commercial kits gave false negative results except the Roche EIA system. The Serodia particle agglutination test had the least positive predictive value of 26.9% while Roche EIA had the highest (88.9%). Our results show that commercial HIV-I antibody test kits are not equally sensitive in detecting positive sera. The practice of using Wellcozyme EIA alone for screening blood meant for transfusion should be discouraged because it does not detect all positive sera and might therefore increase the chances of transfusing HIV-I positive blood. The Roche EIA system appears to be the most reliable for screening blood. Test systems which detect HIV-2 should also be used for screening blood meant for transfusion.