Question
How accurate are finger prick tests?
30 July 2010. Related: All topics, HIV testing.
I have seen in this forum that the finger prick blood test is 99% accurate within 3-4 weeks after possible exposure.
Is it true considering that it is a third generation test? In other sites doctors claim that at that time it is only 70-80% accurate. I think many people would be very interested to hear about this.
Answer
Thank you for your question.
It is only fourth generation tests that are accurate 3-4 weeks after exposure. This is because the fourth generation tests look for both the immune response (antibodies) and the virus itself (antigens). The third generation tests only look for the immune response and this can take longer to show up on a test.
You can get finger prick tests which are fourth generation.