Are there disadvantages to testing oral fluid rather than blood?
As when used on blood, the OraQuick test device can quickly and reliably detect antibodies to HIV in oral fluid. It can be stored at room temperature, requires no specialized equipment, and takes the same amount of time to process (20 to 40 minutes). However, it has slightly lower sensitivity and specificity than when used with blood. In particular, testing programs can expect more false positive results with oral fluid than with blood. As with the blood test, an additional specimen must be collected for confirmatory testing of persons who test preliminarily positive.
