1 Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, KIMSDU, School of Dental Sciences, Karad, Maharashtra.
2 Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Sinhagad Institute, Pune, Maharashtra.
The prevalence of AIDS has attended unimaginable numbers in modern times. Till date no 100% cure has been successful for this dangerous condition. The only salvage is early detection and prevention. The objective of this research was to detect the anti-HIV antibodies in saliva to enable its usage in routine HIV detection for research and mass screening.
A total of 60 patients were included in the study; of which 30 were known seropositive and 30 known seronegative. Paired serum and saliva samples were examined for anti-HIV antibodies using ELISA.
The overall Sensitivity for the kit was 96.67%, while the specificity was 100%. The positive and negative predictive values were 100% and 96.67% respectively for saliva.
The results of this study, albeit on a small sample size shows encouraging results for use of saliva as a much more convenient, less hazardous sample for the diagnosis of HIV.
saliva, anti-HIV antibodies, ELISA
