Trials
Detuned ELISA
Until early 2006 a Detuned ELISA test could still be requested in addition to a Western blot. This indicates whether the infections had occurred less than 6 months earlier or longer ago than this. It turned out that 63% of the infections were not recent.
General practitioners (family doctors)
Two general practitioners piloted rapid HIV testing in their practices. The pilot included 25 patients, some of whom had previously been reluctant to undergo conventional HIV testing because of the waiting time for results.
Mister B
Checkpoint also conducted rapid HIV testing sessions on Sunday afternoons at Mister B, a leather and fetish shop in Amsterdam. The pilot was intended to reach MSM who frequented the city's leather scene and who might not otherwise use conventional HIV testing services.
A total of 54 people were tested during the pilot, of whom three received a positive HIV test result, corresponding to an HIV positivity of 5.6%. The project did not demonstrate that testing at the shop was more effective in reaching leather-bar visitors, but the service attracted some clients from outside Amsterdam and clients reporting substantial sexual risk-taking and recreational drug use.
Oral fluid
In collaboration with OraSure a pilot was conducted with 1000 OraQuick ADVANCE® Rapid HIV-1/2 oral fluid tests. Initially this appeared to form the ideal HIV self-test, but during this pilot two false-negative outcomes were discovered. In a slightly smaller-scale pilot in London a false-negative was noted on three occasions.
