Six Testing Sites Discontinue OraQuick Oral HIV Tests as Officials Investigate False Positives
At least six testing sites in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City earlier this month discontinued use of OraSure Technologies' oral OraQuick Advance Rapid HIV 1/2 Antibody Test after reports of an abnormal number of false-positive results from the test, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, the UCSF AIDS Health Project and three smaller testing centers in San Francisco, as well as the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, have stopped offering the test to patients because of concerns about false-positive results, the Times reports.
However, other prominent testing sites -- including AIDS Healthcare Foundation in Los Angeles, Gay Men's Health Crisis Center in New York and Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington, D.C. -- have not reported abnormal increases in false positives.
FDA and CDC officials said they are investigating complaints of false positives but have not found data that warrant pulling the test off the market (Lin/Chung, Los Angles Times, 12/20).