Prevalence of HIV and hepatitis C markers among a cadaveric population in Milan

Abstract

Cattaneo et al report the interesting finding of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in individuals lacking risk behaviour. With any postmortem sample, serological false positivity is a well known phenomenon, and in the above instance in particular, confirmatory testing is important for confidence in test results. Although concordance in different screening assays is an excellent predictor for true positivity with any antemortem blood samples, the same may not be true for postmortem samples, where false positivity as a result of unsuitability of analyte can occur with more than one assay. When a single screening test is used, confirmation is especially important.