An oral test for AIDS can give false positive results, according to Los Angeles TV station KCBS
The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center stopped using the test last month after 13 people falsely tested positive for the HIV, the virus that causes AIDs.
The center, which gives about 800 free HIV tests a month, offers patients four testing methods, according to the television station.
Tradition blood tests and OraSure oral tests can provide results in seven days, while a rapid version of the oral test is less invasive can give results in less than 20 minutes, making it the preferred testing method of 80 percent of the center’s patients, the report said.
But last month, 13 people who took the OraQuick test at the center falsely registered as HIV-positive.
Clinics in San Francisco and New York have reported similar problems, according to KCBS-TV.
In place of that test, health officials will suggest the OraQuick finger stick test, which tests a drop of blood and can also deliver results in 20 minutes.
“If the public loses confidence in the reliability of HIV tests, they’re just going to stop testing,"Quentin O’Brien, the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center’s director of health and mental health services, told the station.
