Media

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Doctor

Australia

"HIV home testing kit approved"

Source: The Australian

Published: 04 Jul 2012

Category: Diagnostic Test

Rating: (3½ stars)

Keywords: hiv diagnostic home testing diagnose test

what they said (Hover the mouse cursor over underlined words for more info)

THE United States has authorised sales of the first over-the-counter home testing kit for HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS.

The original article can be found at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/hiv-home-testing-kit-approved/story-e6frg8y6-1226416377511

how did it rate? (more information)

Criteria	Rating
Total Score	6 of 9
Availability of Test	Not Satisfactory (?)
Novelty of Test	Satisfactory (?)
Diagnostic Options	Not Satisfactory (?)
Disease Mongering	Satisfactory (?)
Evidence	Not Satisfactory (?)
Quantification of diagnostic accuracy and benefits	Satisfactory (?)
Potential harms of Testing	Satisfactory (?)
Costs of Testing	Satisfactory (?)
Sources of Information	Satisfactory (?)
Relies on Press Release	Not Applicable

what we said (Hover the mouse cursor over underlined words for more info)

This story is imported from an overseas news agency and describes a new HIV diagnostic test approved for use in the USA. The story clearly describes the important issues of false positive and false negative rates associated with this test but not how it compares with existing blood tests. False positives occur about 1 in every 5000 but the rate of false negative results was one is 12, which seems very high. More information about the evidence supporting the test would have been interesting. Comment from a local expert would have made the story more relevant to local readers and could have answered questions such as if and when this test will be available in Australia.

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