In this paper, we review serological and molecular based methods to identify HIV infection recency. The accurate identification of recent HIV infection continues to be an important research area and has implications for HIV prevention and treatment interventions. Longitudinal cohorts that follow HIV negative individuals over time are the current gold standard approach, but they are logistically...

Assay validation is a series of the following interrelated processes: an experimental process: reagents and protocols are optimised by experimentation to detect the analyte with accuracy and precision, and to ensure repeatability and reproducibility in the assay. a relative process: its diagnostic sensitivity and diagnostic specificity are calculated relative to test results obtained from refer...

AIMS--To compare the sensitivity, specificity, and practicality of recombinant proteins in serological tests for the detection of human parvovirus B19 IgG and IgM. METHODS--Indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assays using B19 structural proteins expressed in Escherichia coli were developed for the detection of B19 specific IgG and IgM (rELISA-G and rELISA-M). Cells infected with baculovirus ex...

Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) and varicella-zoster virus (VZV) cause serious central nervous system (CNS) diseases that are diagnosed with PCR using samples of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and, during later stages of such infections, with assays of intrathecal IgG antibody production. However, serological diagnoses have been hampered by cross-reactions between HSV-1 and VZV IgG antibodies and are...

West Nile Fever is a zoonotic disease caused by a mosquito-borne flavivirus, WNV. By its clinical sensitivity to the disease, the horse is a useful sentinel of infection. Because of the virus' low-level, short-term viraemia in horses, the primary tools used to diagnose WNV are serological tests. Inter-laboratory proficiency tests (ILPTs) were held in 2010 and 2013 to evaluate WNV serological di...

SARS-CoV-2 virus was first detected in late 2019 and circulated globally, causing COVID-19, which is characterised by sub-clinical to severe disease humans. Here, we investigate the serological antibody responses infection during acute convalescent using a cohort of (i) COVID-19 patients admitted hospital, (ii) healthy individuals who had experienced ‘COVID-19 like-illness’, (iii) prior emergen...

The hepatitis C virus antibody statuses of only 11 (21.5%) of 51 initially reactive samples from volunteer blood donors could be confirmed by using additional screening and confirmatory assays; 23 (45%) were negative by all subsequent assays. Seventeen samples (33.3%) gave variable results in the different assays. The core and NS5 antigens were most immunogenic. An algorithm for serological scr...

Human immunodeficiency virus is a blood borne and being routinely screened in the banks since 1983. The sensitivity specificity of HIV tests have improved dramatically over years, but even then, false positive results do occur, which need confirmatory testing. A young male who arrived at Armed Forces Institute Transfusion (AFIT), Rawalpindi, for donation, was repeatedly “positive” on serologica...