What are the different diagnostic methods for HIV.

Concerning sensitivity and specificity of the diagnostic techniques, results obtained for the two classical staining methods (where either one or both were positive) were 60 % [6/10 (the volume was insufficient for one test)] and 100 % (139/139), respectively. For conventional PCR, sensitivity and specificity were 100 % (11/11) and 87 % (121/139) and, for real-time PCR, 100 % (11/11) and 84.9 % (118/139), respectively. There was a significant difference (P < 0.01) in both sensitivity and specificity between PCR and staining techniques; staining gave excellent specificity but lacked sensitivity, while the two PCR tests were much more sensitive but could give false positives.