What is the HIV-1 antibody test?
The HIV-1 antibody test checks your blood for antibodies to the most common type of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1). HIV is the virus that causes AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), a life-threatening disease. If you are infected with HIV, your immune system makes a type of protein called an antibody to try to destroy or get rid of the virus. There are different HIV antibody tests. One test is the ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). If the ELISA test is positive, a second test called a Western blot is done to confirm the result. The Western blot takes longer to perform and is more expensive than the ELISA test, but it is more precise. A new quick HIV test has been recently approved by the US FDA.
