First field evaluation of the optimized CE marked Abbott protocol for HIV RNA testing on dried blood spot in a routine clinical setting in Vietnam
Taieb et al.
The finding, in our words
The optimised Abbott DBS protocol for HIV RNA testing performed well in a Vietnamese routine clinical setting, meeting WHO performance criteria for viral load monitoring. This supports scaling up decentralised HIV care, though sensitivity at the 1000 copies/mL threshold remains a challenge to avoid keeping patients on failing antiretroviral therapy.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
The study validated a semi-quantitative protocol for Epstein-Barr virus serology using dried blood spots, demonstrating 98.8% sensitivity and 96.5% specificity compared to paired venous serum samples. The successful validation in a self-sampling cohort confirms the suitability of this patient-centric microsampling approach for large-scale seroprevalence studies and decentralised trials.
Capillary samples collected using dried blood spots and Mitra microsamplers showed strong agreement with venous plasma for quantifying IgG antibodies against most vaccine-preventable diseases. Sensitivity was high for the majority of pathogens, though the study noted that antibody stability declined at room temperature over time, favouring cold storage for longer durations.
Ombati et al., Scientific reports (paywalled) · source ↗
The review found dried blood spot sampling correlates strongly with plasma for HIV-1 viral load and offers simplified collection, transport and storage without cold-chain. This could expand access to monitoring in resource-limited settings and improve clinical outcomes through earlier detection of treatment failure.
Self-collected dried blood spots analysed on the Roche Elecsys platform gave quantitative anti-spike antibody results that agreed closely with paired venous samples, with sensitivity 96.63% and specificity 97.81% and a conversion formula across 0.018 to 250 U/mL, enabling accurate tracking of titre changes in longitudinal cohorts after vaccination.
Castelletti et al., Microbiology spectrum · source ↗
Dried blood spot eluates showed high agreement with serum for SARS-CoV-2 IgG against Spike and Nucleocapsid (r≈0.96; qualitative φ≈0.98–1.0) and remained stable after 6–8 hours of storage, supporting use of capillary DBS for serosurveys and decentralised testing.
Guttmann et al., Biochemistry and biophysics reports · source ↗