HIV/AIDS Diagnostics: HIV detected in saliva by immunological and molecular testing methods

AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, August 14, 2006
Staff Medical Writers

"In order to test the detection feasibility of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in saliva, a three-method blind screening analysis was conducted. Sixty-eight individuals were studied, comprising 34 HIV carriers and 34 noncarriers (controls) of matched gender and age," scientists in Greece report.

According to C. Yapijakis and colleagues at the University of Athens, "An oral examination preceded saliva and blood sampling of studied individuals.

"All samples were tested blind for HIV by using two immunological methods [Oraquick-compatible enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and a fluorescent immunoenzymatic method (ELFA)], confirmed by western blotting, and a simple molecular method (polymerase chain reaction amplification of a relatively constant viral DNA region), confirmed by DNA hybridization."

"Compared with the controls, about twice as many HIV carriers had oral health problems, including periodontal disease. ELFA resulted in 33/34 positives and 34/34 negatives in saliva, while it detected 34/34 positives and 34/34 negatives in blood.

"ELISA performed even better, with correct assignment of all positives and negatives in both saliva and blood. The PCR method, at three annealing temperatures, surprisingly detected all positive samples, while it gave no false-positive result," researchers said.

"The detection of anti-HIV in saliva may achieve accuracy of 97.1-100%, comparable with that in blood. Furthermore," concluded the authors, "this study suggests that a highly accurate molecular method of HIV detection may be feasible, although the studied carriers had rather homogeneous characteristics."

Yapijakis and colleagues published their study in European Journal of Oral Sciences (Immunological and molecular detection of human immunodeficiency virus in saliva, and comparison with blood testing. Eur J Oral Sci. 2006 Jun;114(3):175-9).

For more information, contact C. Yapijakis, University of Athens, School Medical, Dept. of Neurology, Eginit Hospital, 74 Vas Sofias, Athens 11528, Greece.

Publisher contact information for the European Journal of Oral Sciences is: Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Rd., Oxford OX4 2DQ, Oxon, England.

Keywords: Athens, Greece, HIV/AIDS, Saliva Detection Method, Sensitivity & Specificity.

This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.

Reference

Yapijakis C, Panis V, Koufaliotis N, et al., “Immunological and molecular detection of human immunodeficiency virus in saliva, and comparison with blood testing”, Eur J Oral Sci. 2006 Jun;114(3):175-9.

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