Significantly Diminished Long-Term Specificity of the BED Capture Enzyme Immunoassay Among Patients With HIV-1 With Very Low CD4 Counts and Those on Antiretroviral Therapy

Abstract

If the BED method is to be used for the accurate estimation of HIV incidence from cross-sectional surveys, it will be essential, before other statistical adjustment methods, to identify, at least, all cases who are on ART and all those with CD4 counts < 50 cells per microliter. The more general remaining problem is the unequivocal identification of all persons with long-term HIV infections.