Media Watch

Oral HIV tests less reliable than blood tests

The accuracy of increasingly popular HIV home-testing kits is under scrutiny according to a report in The Times.

A study, published in the Lancet online medical journal this week, revealed that the oral tests (which involve swabbing the inside of the cheek) are 2 percent less accurate at detecting HIV antibodies than tests that use blood.

According to the article, home testing has become extremely popular in countries like Kenya and Uganda where confidentiality of HIV test results is a problem.

And while 2 percent less sensitivity might seem negligible, when oral testing kits are being used by millions of people, inaccurate results (especially false negatives) are potentially significant, according to Mark Sonderup of the South African Medical Association.