about ELISA and WB

Hi there, hopefully someone could help me with the following questions. Would really appreciate it - especially if there are any authoritative sources available to shed some light.

1/ It is possible to get a false positive on the ELISA test due to having or having had herpes or hepatitis B from what I have read - I was just wondering if you could shed some light about the frequency of this occurring.


2/ If someone where to get a positive result on the highly sensitive ELISA at the 6 week mark (not necessarily due to having an infection but due to a false positive for whatever reason), would the western blot confirmatory test be reliable within this time frame also?



Presumably the western blot test would be highly accurate at this time as it is required to confirm all positive results, and as you have said numerous time neither you nor your colleagues have seen a single person testing negative at 6 weeks and go on to test positive later within recent years. Am I correct in assuming that all those who do ultimately test positive at 6 weeks did so with a confirmatory test by the western blot?

Thanx in advance

[Teak]

In the US all positive test must have a confirmative test ran. Either by a WB or an IFA test.

[krw07]