Evaluation of dried whole blood spots obtained by heel or finger stick as an alternative to venous blood for diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection in vertically exposed infants in the routine diagnostic laboratory.

The diagnostic accuracy of the Roche Amplicor human immunodeficiency virus type 1 DNA PCR assay (version 1.5) on DNA extracted from pediatric heel prick dried blood spots using Roche MagNA Pure nucleic acid purification technology was evaluated. The methodologies transfer successfully from the labor-intensive research laboratory to the high-throughput automated routine laboratory.