AIDS saliva test

[Jeffrey Rice]

In article <g.e.price-1410951140200001 at bcs179.bham.ac.uk>,
   g.e.price at bham.ac.uk (Graeme Price) wrote:
>In article <Pine.OSF.3.91.951012192337.11050A-100000 at beta.loyno.edu>,
>addavis at BETA.LOYNO.EDU (Scott Davis) wrote:
>
>> First off, I can tell that you are a salesman and not a scientist.  Such 
>> a test is not in existence.  How would this work?!  I think you might 
>> work on something else.  
>> 
>> Scott 
>

	There is a test, made by a company called Epitope.  The test has 
some major drawbacks, if you ask me.
	The biggest is the lack of a confirmatory test using saliva.  
Anyone who comes up positive needs a Western Blot done, and that requires 
blood being drawn.  If the point is to test a less contagious fluid, this 
seems to miss the point.  
	Already mentioned is the difficulty in obtaining enough saliva, 
esp. from young patients.

	On a side note, a urine test for HIV-1 should be appearing soon 
from Calypte Biomedical.  It hasn't been approved yet, but all signs are 
good for approval in the near future.  This does not require a blood sample 
to confirm, either.
						Jeff


_______________________________________________________
 Jeffrey Rice       |  "My other guitar is a Martin."
 Chemistry, '97     |  jrice at pomona.edu
 Pomona College     |  http://www.webcom.com/~jrice