FDA Approves New AIDS Test

Rate This

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new test that detects both types of the virus that causes AIDS.

The FDA said Friday that Abbott Laboratories' Abbott Prism HIV O Plus test can detect HIV types 1 and 2. HIV type 2 is mostly found in West Africa, while HIV type 1 is made up of various virus subgroups found in both the United States and West Africa, the Associated Press reported.

The test will be used to screen for HIV in blood and organ donations.

HIV attacks the body's immune system, eventually causing AIDS. More than 1.1 million Americans are estimated to have HIV and 232,000 do not know it, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.