Should a physician prescribe antiretroviral treatment for a pregnant woman on the basis of rapid HIV test results (per the PHS Guidelines)?
A negative rapid HIV test of course means that antiretroviral treatment is not necessary. Deciding what to do about therapy when the rapid HIV test is reactive is more complicated. If the circumstances are not urgent, it would be preferable to wait for the confirmatory test result. In other circumstances (such as a rapid HIV test result for a woman in labor, for whom no other result is available), physicians should base decisions about antiretroviral treatment on the predictive value of the preliminary rapid HIV test results and an assessment of the mother’s HIV risk. (CDC. Public Health Service Task Force Recommendations for the Use of Antiretroviral Drugs in Pregnant Women Infected with HIV-1 for Maternal Health and for Reducing Perinatal HIV-1 Transmission in the United States. MMWR 1998;47(No.
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