False negative HIV tests raise concerns

| 06/03/2017 | 18 Comments

(CNS): The Health Services Authority (HSA) said there have been three separate “false negative” HIV tests from private healthcare facilities in Grand Cayman and they are urging all healthcare facilities to use kits approved by the World Health Organization (WHO). Government health officials said that in three cases, samples believed to be negative subseqently tested positive at the HSA’s lab and the  Integrated Regional Laboratories (IRL) in the United States.

“These ‘false negative’ persons pose a public health risk to the Cayman Islands,” Acting Medical Officer of Health Dr Samuel Williams-Rodriguez and Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Elizabeth McLaughlin said in a joint statement. “As such, there is a need for the standardisation of kits used in HIV-testing in healthcare facilities.”

The Ministry of Health said only WHO kits should be used and members of the public who are being tested for HIV are encouraged to check with their healthcare provider to confirm that they are using only these test kits.

The WHO list can be found here.

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Category: Health, Medical Health

Comments (18)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Sad fact: if these were rotten Zika, heart disease or diabetes test kits there would be an entirely different level of public outcry. We can see here, from the highest levels of inaction from the HSA, that there are crickets for “gay problems”. Please bookmark this contemporaneous moment for the next “what are the LGBTI people complaining about” rehash.

  2. Anonymous says:

    when you have an incompetent heath service commision? expect anything?

  3. Anonymous says:

    Unfortunately, in Cayman there are no regulatory requirements for medical laboratories to be properly accredited!

  4. Anonymous says:

    Were these really false negatives or simply tests conducted within the ‘window’ period between exposure and the infection showing on tests? I’m assuming we’re talking about self-test kits here and HSA has always been very opposed to their introduction. The fact is that properly used these kits are at the very least as accurate as the standard blood tests and far less vulnerable to mix ups or contamination in the lab.

    • Jotnar says:

      Why would you assume its self test kits when it clearly says private healthcare facilities and encourages users to check with their healthcare provider?

      • Anonymous says:

        Because some of the private healthcare facilities have been using the point-of-care (my mistake because that’s the correct term) or Rapid test kits for years.

  5. Anonymous says:

    third world medical

  6. Anonymous says:

    Now that’s scary.

  7. Anonymous says:

    To the HSA: Shouldn’t the onus be put on these “private healthcare facilities”, operating from a position of enormous trust, and carrying professional liability – shouldn’t they be sanctioned and told to sort out their kits immediately? Why does the HSA deflect this responsibility to the public (the actual victims of this malpractice)?!?

    • Jotnar says:

      And how are members of the public meant to know that the lab they go to is using the right test kit? The HSA says patients should ask them? Beause the assumption is that they are so cheap or crooked that they use unreliable test kits to make more money, but they wont be able to bring themselves to lie, right? For heavens sake, they should be fined and their test results not accepted by the HSA or Immigration until they can demonstrate they are complying with the required standard.

    • Rod Bodden says:

      Well some body got to pay for it!

    • Anonymous says:

      And the private ones charge you a fortune for crap?

    • Anonymous says:

      I really do not understand this as I am unfortunately an expat who is knowledgeable and works in a hospital here. So please excuse me….So….you will NOT name the private “healthcare facilities” due to confidentiality. Excuse me BUT what about public safety. I know that the “healthcare facilities” would have known the accuracy of these tests from long ago but chose due to cost saving measures perhaps or ignorance or being uneducated, just not to follow world standards. How come these people and practices are not accountable to the public? Any other developed nation would disclose and investigate this information. AND it would be all over tv. Why can’t the Cayman public know and choose to flex their muscle of their so called democratic and capitalistic right not to give business to arrogant thieves who describe their interests as only for the best interest of the public. You are paying their salary by using their services. They are lining their pockets off someone else’s misfortune with an illness that will take that person’s life or anyone who they have intimate relations with or their new off-spring. Wow this is a whole new level of messed up! The Cayman public deserves answers. Come on stop ranting privately and start a movement for change. You deserve much better than this!

      • Anonymous says:

        Again this is not a first world country. The population size limits the ability to police. Too many rules and regulations, no enforcement. It would take every literate Caymanian to enforce all of the laws and regulations on the rest of the island population. It is all just a roust.

      • Anonymous says:

        Well said!

      • Anonymous says:

        I agree that those that consume bogus HIV tests ought to lead the charge. You can guess who those folks are, and can Google how much this regime cares about their rights, health, and safety. Sadly, if it were a cardiac or diabetes test, that would be a whole different level of outcry. These 1950’s attitudes are not going to change overnight.

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