SENSITIVITY AND SPECIFICITY OF THE POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION IN DETECTING HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS TYPE 1 (HIV-1) DNA

White blood cells from 191 individuals were screened for HIV-1 DNA from December 1989 until March 1990 using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). 79 of these individuals were seropositive for HIV-1 by Western blot and immunofluorescence, 112 were serologically HIV-1 negative. The primers used in the PCR were from the gag- and env-regions of the HIV-1 genome. A specificity of 100% was found for both regions. Sensitivity was 98.7% for both regions, whereas it was only 82% for the env-region alone. To check the detection limit of our PCR method we used a HIV-1 plasmid (pTZ31D) containing the gag-region of the HIV-1 genome. In 35 amplification cycles in which only this plasmid was used we established 10(1) copies as the lower limit of detection.