[Comparison of two methodologies for HIV confirmation in a Blood Bank].

Background: There are different confirmatory methods approved by standard 253 to detect HIV-1 or HIV-2 infection, such as: Western blot, Immunofluorescence, Recombinant immunoassay, among others.

Objective: Compare the concordance of recombinant immunoassay (GeniusTM) versus Western blot (WB) tests for confirmatory analysis of HIV-reactive samples in donors at the Blood Bank.

Material And Methods: Samples that repeatedly showed reactivity for HIV during chemiluminescence screening were analyzed. Confirmatory tests were applied by Western Blot and Recombinant Immunoassay (GeniusTM). A double-blind study was carried out using 39 reactive and 41 non-reactive samples by HIV serology. The results were submitted to Diagnostic agreement.

Results: When analyzed with WB, the 39 samples with a reactive result gave a positive result and of the 41 samples with a non-reactive result, 35 were found to have negative results and 6 were indeterminate. When analyzed with GeniusTM, the 39 samples with reactive results gave positive results and the 41 non-reactive samples gave negative results. The Kappa index obtained was 0.85.

Conclusions: It was found that there is a high agreement between the two methods and that both are reliable as tests for confirmatory analysis of HIV in the Blood Bank, however, for practicality the GeniusTM method offers more advantages.