You are about to graduate as a RN. Your final term project is to prepare a presentation on HIV/AIDS. HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a retrovirus—it is an enveloped single-stranded virus that has duplicate copies of a single-stranded RNA genome. All retroviruses encode reverse transcriptase, an enzyme that uses an RNA genome as a template to make a complementary DNA strand. HIV can infect a variety of human cell types, but the most important are the helper T cells (also called CD4 cells)—the virus infects these cells and causes their death; their numbers slowly decline until the immune system can no longer resist infections or tumor development. You give your presentation to the class and are asked by your professor at the end of the session to answer some questions that your peers have on diagnosing HIV.
-You explain to the class that ELISA tests may be direct or indirect. Please select the False statement regarding these tests.
A) In direct ELISAs, specific antigens in the sample are "captured" by antibodies that have been attached to the inside surface of the well
B) ELISAs have advantages over other common immunoassays in that they are easy to do and often require minimal technical skills.
C) ELISA tests are 100% accurate; unlike other immunoassays, ELISAs never yield False positive results, so additional testing is not required.
D) ELISA tests are often done in microtiter plates, allowing multiple samples to be tested all at once.
E) Indirect ELISAs require a labeled secondary antibody to detect the unlabeled first (primary) antibody.

Question

You are about to graduate as a RN. Your final term project is to prepare a presentation on HIV/AIDS. HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a retrovirus—it is an enveloped single-stranded virus that has duplicate copies of a single-stranded RNA genome. All retroviruses encode reverse transcriptase, an enzyme that uses an RNA genome as a template to make a complementary DNA strand. HIV can infect a variety of human cell types, but the most important are the helper T cells (also called CD4 cells)—the virus infects these cells and causes their death; their numbers slowly decline until the immune system can no longer resist infections or tumor development. You give your presentation to the class and are asked by your professor at the end of the session to answer some questions that your peers have on diagnosing HIV.
-You explain to the class that ELISA tests may be direct or indirect. Please select the False statement regarding these tests.
A) In direct ELISAs, specific antigens in the sample are "captured" by antibodies that have been attached to the inside surface of the well
B) ELISAs have advantages over other common immunoassays in that they are easy to do and often require minimal technical skills.
C) ELISA tests are 100% accurate; unlike other immunoassays, ELISAs never yield False positive results, so additional testing is not required.
D) ELISA tests are often done in microtiter plates, allowing multiple samples to be tested all at once.
E) Indirect ELISAs require a labeled secondary antibody to detect the unlabeled first (primary) antibody.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This statement is false. While ELISA tests are highly accurate, they are not 100% accurate and can yield false positive results. It is recommended that positive ELISA results be confirmed through additional testing such as a Western blot test.

You Are About to Graduate as a RN