Table 2.

Summary of current types of techniques used for HIV diagnosis or monitoring. Values are approximate and based on literature searches.

Available Diagnostics for HIV	Method	Current uses	Requires extensive technical training?	Requires expensive, bulky equipment?	High through-put?	Average Cost	Operation Time	Suitable for low-resource settings?
Antigen/Antibody ELISAs	Detects antibodies to HIV or HIV antigens	Confirmatory diagnosis for HIV in adults	✓	✓	✓	$0.60–1.50/test	~2 hours	×
Viral Nucleic Acid Amplification (i.e. RT-PCR or PCR)	Detects and quantifies viral RNA or DNA	Confirmatory diagnosis for HIV Monitoring of HIV/AIDS disease state and efficacy of ART	✓	✓	✓	$12/test	~ hours	×
Flow Cytometry	Quantifies CD4+ cells	Monitoring of HIV/AIDS disease state and efficacy of ART	✓	✓	×	$50/test	~ 1 hour	×
Lateral Flow Diagnostics (Immuno-chromatographic)	Detects antibodies to HIV or HIV antigens	Screening tool for HIV in adults only	×	×	×	$1–3/test	seconds to minutes	✓
Western Blots	Detects antibodies to HIV	Confirmatory diagnosis for HIV in adults	✓	✓	×	$20–30/test	~ hours	×