Investigation of a new HIV-1 p24 antigen detection kit based on the enzyme-linked fluorescent immunoassay]

We investigated the performance of the new p24 antigen detection kit (VIDAS HIV p24) with the conventional antigen kit (HIV-1 Ag monoclonal; Abbott). The new kit is an enzyme-linked fluorescent immunoassay (ELFA) and all of the assay steps are performed automatically by the VIDAS instrument within 100 minutes. With the seven HIV-1 seroconversion panels, three seroconversions were detected on an average of 6.8 days earlier with ELFA than the conventional EIA kit. ELFA showed negative results for all of the 11 false positive samples by the combined (p24, anti-HIV) detection kit (VIDAS HIV DUO). The results obtained suggest that ELFA are very useful for an earlier diagnosis of HIV infection and re-test for false positive samples by other HIV diagnosis kits.