Los Angeles Center Stops Using Oral Test for HIV Citing High Error Rates
The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center on Thursday said it would stop using the OraQuick oral HIV test after an increase in false-positive results, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Last month, the University of California-San Francisco AIDS Health Project also stopped using the test -- manufactured by Pennsylvania-based OraSure Technologies -- because of the number of false-positive results. Some testing centers in New York City also have reported higher than expected error rates using the oral test.
LAGLC reported 13 cases of false-positive results in November. The center said false-positive results were rare before last month, the Times reports.
LAGLC will use another rapid testing method using a small sample of blood to test for HIV. There have been no reported problems with that method.
Peter Kerndt, director of Los Angeles County's sexually transmitted disease program, questioned the center's figures, adding that the county has not detected a high rate of inaccurate results and that stopping use of the test is "the wrong thing to do" (Lin, Los Angeles Times, 12/16).