FDA Approves 1st Urine Test for HIV
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
The Food and Drug Administration approved the first urine test for the AIDS virus. Calypte Biomedical Corp. of Berkeley created the test, which detects antibodies to HIV present in urine. The test is safer, easier and more accessible than traditional blood HIV tests because it doesn’t require needles or specially trained health care providers to administer it, and because urine, unlike blood, poses no risk of infection, said Calypte President Jack Davis. But urine testing is not as accurate as blood testing, and anyone who tests positive must then undergo standard blood testing to confirm whether he or she really has HIV, the FDA said.
