Knowing about HIV Antibody Test

Comparison of conventional test, rapid test, and self-testing

Conventional test refers to taking blood from a vein and sending the specimen to a laboratory where trained technicians perform the test, followed by confirmatory tests if necessary.

Rapid test refers to obtaining a blood drop from a finger-prick (or oral fluid by swabbing the gums), performing the test on-site and reading the result in about 20 minutes by a healthcare worker or community worker.

HIV self-testing refers to the process by which a person who collects a specimen, performs a test and interprets the test result in private wants to know his or her HIV status. The procedure of HIV self-testing and rapid test is the same. The only difference is that self-testing requires the users to read and interpret the results by themselves.

The following table shows the advantages and disadvantages of these methods:

	Conventional test	Rapid test	Self-testing
Cost	Government service (AIDS Hotline) and some of the local AIDS NGOs provide free services	Free in local AIDS NGOs and Government service (AIDS Hotline)	Users have to purchase the test kits by themselves
Privacy and confidentiality	Anonymous and confidential in local AIDS NGOs and AIDS Hotline of Department of Health Requires personal information if done in hospitals or clinics other than the above	Anonymous and confidential in local AIDS NGOs and AIDS Hotline of Department of Health	Greater privacy with total self control
Turnover time and accuracy of result	Confirmatory result available in 5-7 days and it is a definitive diagnosis	Result available in 20-30 minutes. Positive results require another confirmatory test Misinterpretation is not common as test performers are trained to provide the testing service	Self-testing result available in 20-30 minutes. Positive results require another confirmatory test Risk of misinterpretation of results by users themselves
Accuracy (Sensitivity and specificity)	Very high accuracy, gold-standard	High accuracy in trained hands	Accuracy slightly reduced in untrained hands Risk of procedure error
Window period	shorter window period as 4th generation technique is currently used in Hong Kong government laboratory	Shorter window period especially when 4th generation kits are used	Longer window period if lower generation kits are used
Counselling, support service and linkage to care	Good	Good	Risk of insufficient counselling and support service Lack of / delayed linkage to care
Other advantages and disadvantages	-	-	✓ Greater convenience in time and space

 

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