Guest Posted August 23, 2003 Report Share Posted August 23, 2003 Does anyone know where I could buy the Abbot Laboratories Determine HIV test? They are currently unavailable for private purchase worldwide, but I once was able to buy 100 of these from a Thai Doctor. They are used in 50% of the worlds hospitals. We Paid $2.75 ea. US three years ago. They are great - saved my life one night! We are trying to get these in every 7-11 in Thailand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickfarang Posted August 26, 2003 Report Share Posted August 26, 2003 "They are great - saved my life one night!" This sentence shows that you are ignoring the widely held wisdom that those infected can infect others before an antibody test can detect the infection. Putting these into 7-11 stores might be an irresponsible act if the idea is to promote this unsafe and unwise use IMHO. RickF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 26, 2003 Report Share Posted August 26, 2003 Applause! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
didierhardy Posted August 27, 2003 Report Share Posted August 27, 2003 Send me a private e-mail and let me know how many tests you wanna buy. I have some conncections in this field. Didier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabio Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 I have looked into this and I have two questions: 1. Could you please cite a reference for the FDA approval of the product? 2. If the results come out in 3 minutes (rather than 15 minutes), could you please cite a reference? Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiery Jack Posted August 30, 2003 Report Share Posted August 30, 2003 Says didierhardy: Send me a private e-mail and let me know how many tests you wanna buy. I have some conncections in this field. Didier Sad to say, but I would imagine that quite a lot of the posters on this board have had "some connections" in the field of sexually transmitted diseaes. jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 30, 2003 Report Share Posted August 30, 2003 Rick - I AM NOT ADVOCATING UNSAFE SEX. USE A CONDOM ALWAYS! The fact is that condoms do break and slip off, this is why condoms are not 100% effective in preventing pregnancy, or HIV transmission. The addition of these tests into the battle against the spread of HIV is just one of a number of things responsible people should be doing. These tests will and have prevented HIV transmission and save lives! Preventing the transmission of the disease is much less expensive than providing costly AIDS drugs afterwards. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. As far as transmission - If these highly sensitive tests (Abott Determine) fail to detect the presence of HIV antibodies, transmission is believed by many to be less likely. Here is one quote - "The lower the viral load the lower the risk of transmitting the virus during heterosexual acts" Dr. Tom Quinn, Johns Hopkins University, at the 7th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 30, 2003 Report Share Posted August 30, 2003 Sabio - More information on the Determine tests can be found here. http://www.abbott-pmtct-testing.org/en/welcome/ A new, similar, test by Abbott which clearly states USFDA Approval is listed here - http://www.abbott-pmtct-testing.org/en/product/ (OraQuick Rapid HIV-1 FDA approved, 20-minute rapid HIV test) It has ben a few years since we worked with these tests and the technology appears to have improved, I could not find the approval for the Determine test, although it is widely used by hospitals throughout the world. 3-minute result - Most of the literature does state 15 or 20 minutes, however, in our tests of over 100 of the Determine tests using whole blood only (from 3 drops off a finger), most tests showed results in 3 to 5 minutes. We used HIV positive serum from the hospital to make sure our tests worked, then we checked a friend of ours wife, who we knew to be positive. The one other person who tested positive was a picture of health - you would never have thought her to be infected! She was tested again by two hospitals. She is still working. Right now I am trying to rediscover a source for personal/private use. PS - We were pleasantly suprised that most bar girls WANT to be tested (and want their customers tested too!) I like having these tests at my disposal. Not for everybody, I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickfarang Posted August 30, 2003 Report Share Posted August 30, 2003 I appreciate your statement, "USE A CONDOM ALWAYS! " I also agree that statistically the chances of becoming infected are probably be less with a partner who test negative than with one who test positive. If you are going to market these to end users, I hope it is in such a way as to promote safe sex rather than let the end users assume its a substitute. From your vigorous response, I assume the former will be the case. And that being case, you will be doing some positive to reduce the spread of this plague. RickF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabio Posted August 30, 2003 Report Share Posted August 30, 2003 Says interviews: As far as transmission - If these highly sensitive tests (Abott Determine) fail to detect the presence of HIV antibodies, transmission is believed by many to be less likely. Here is one quote - "The lower the viral load the lower the risk of transmitting the virus during heterosexual acts" Dr. Tom Quinn, Johns Hopkins University, at the 7th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. Thank you for the detailed response. There is a misunderstanding that I would like to clarify. When the test fails to detect the presence of antibodies, this is not the same as the viral load being low. In fact, the viral load (hence the infectivity) becomes very high in the initial phase of the infection (seronegative window) before the formation of antibodies. The quote you included is correct, but it is the amount of antibodies, not the viral load, that affect the result of the test. Nonetheless, when the test is used, the total risk of the seronagative window is small compared to the alternative. The details are in the recent 7 covered = 1 bareback thread (and the references within). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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