Now, gum swab to spot HIV

  • 07/05/2008

  • Times Of India (New Delhi)

A simple gum swab in place of an invasive blood test can now tell whether you are HIV positive. What's even better, the test results will be out in just 10-20 minutes. In a breakthrough that could replace the present day HIV antibody test through blood taken from the finger or the arm, a team of Indo-Canadian scientists has successfully tested the world's first salivabased HIV test, with an accuracy rate of nearly 100%. The final results from the study, conducted in Maharashtra in 2006, by a team from McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), Canada, and Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (MGIMS), Sevagram, were published on Tuesday in the international medical journal