Frequency of False Positive Rapid HIV Serologic Tests in African Men and Women Receiving PrEP for HIV Prevention: Implications for Programmatic Roll-Out of Biomedical Interventions Frequency of False Positive Rapid HIV Serologic Tests

Abstract

In this prospective HIV prevention study conducted in Kenya and Uganda, the rate of false positive rapid test results, although low (0.2%) relative to total number of tests done and within the expected frequency (<0.5%) for the rapid tests used, illustrates a potentially emerging challenge in HIV testing and prevention. Among those receiving PrEP for HIV prevention, which lowered HIV incidence to <1% per year (<0.1% per month), the number of false positive results (110) was greater than the number of true positive results (59). The phrase ‘false positive paradox’ describes our primary findings