Same-day testing for human immunodeficiency virus antibodies.

We analysed the specificity of a screening enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for human immunodeficiency virus antibodies, and found that 18 of 1878 serum specimens (1.0%) from an open access clinic gave false reactive results. Introduction of true same-day testing therefore required the use of more than one assay before a reactive result could be reported. A testing strategy was devised with a 4 h turn-around time which gave accurate results for 11 positive and 119 negative specimens.