Salivary testing for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection in children born to infected mothers in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The Sao Paulo Collaborative Study for Vertical Transmission of HIV-1.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To validate a method for salivary testing for HIV infection in children older than 12 months. METHODS: Oral fluid samples were collected via sponge foam swabs from children born to HIV-positive mothers and were tested for antibodies to HIV-1 and HIV-2 with an IgG antibody capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and a modified Western blot for confirmation. In each child serum antibody status was the standard used to validate the salivary antibody test. RESULTS: We obtained 331 oral fluid samples from children born to HIV-positive mothers. The specificity and sensitivity of salivary testing compared with results on sera were both 100% (297 of 297 (95% confidence interval 98.8 to 100%) and 34 of 34 (95% confidence interval 89.7 to 100%), respectively). Compliance in the study population increased from 91% to 97% when mothers were offered the opportunity to provide oral fluid from their children instead of blood specimens. CONCLUSION: Salivary testing provides an accurate and acceptable noninvasive method for assessing the HIV infection status of children born to infected mothers by using IgG antibody capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay alone with a strategy of duplicate retesting of reactive specimens.