Parallel Rapid HIV Testing in Pregnant Women at Tijuana General Hospital, Baja California, Mexico

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the performance of parallel rapid HIV testing and the presence of HIV-associated risk factors in pregnant women with unknown HIV status in Baja California, Mexico. Pregnant women attending the delivery unit or the prenatal clinic at Tijuana General Hospital had blood drawn for parallel rapid HIV testing with Determine(TM) HIV-1/2 and Uni-Gold(TM) Recombigen(R) HIV. The parallel rapid HIV test performance was compared to the enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and western blot. From September 2007 to July 2008, 1,383 (94%) of 1,464 women in labor and 1,992 (96%) of 2,075 women in prenatal care were enrolled. The HIV seroprevalence among women screened during labor (19/1,383, 1.37%, 95% CI: 0.85-2.18%) was significantly higher compared to those seeking prenatal care (5/1,992, 0.25%, 95% CI: 0.09-0.62%; p < 0.001). Of 25 pregnant women testing positive by parallel rapid HIV testing 24 had a positive confirmatory western blot and one (0.03%) was confirmed as false positive. Additionally, two (0.06%) women had parallel rapid HIV discordant testing results; both tested negative by western blot. All women who tested negative by rapid testing had negative results on pooled EIA antibody testing. The overall sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of parallel rapid HIV testing were 100%, 99.9%, 96%, and 100%, respectively. These findings document a very high acceptance rate and an excellent performance of the parallel rapid HIV testing strategy during pregnancy.