False results prompt removal of HIV quick test
Last Updated: Thursday, May 2, 2002 | 11:07 AM ET
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The HIV tests use a finger prick drop of blood to give patients an answer in 15-20 minutes. With the usual tests, patients wait for about two weeks.
Health Canada issued the advisory after the Centre for Disease Control in British Columbia found that some people who tested negative were actually positive.
- FROM APR 28, 2002: Thousands in B.C. took faulty AIDS test
Health Canada estimates 8,000 people across the country have used the quick tests.
Jane Green, manager of the Hassle Free Clinic in Toronto, says she believes the number of wrong test results will be low.
"The probable number of positives is small. All of the tests aren't bad, because we did pick up a number of confirmed positives on the rapid tests, which were confirmed by the lab," said Green.
Officials have stressed that the public should not panic, but some say they won't trust the quick test method.
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