{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,25]],"date-time":"2026-09-25T03:40:34Z","timestamp":1790307634416,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,7]],"date-time":"2023-02-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1675728000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004252","name":"Qatar University","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["QUST-2-CHS-2022-501"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["QUST-2-CHS-2022-501"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004252","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100008982","name":"Qatar National Research Fund","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NPRP 9-040-3-008"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NPRP 9-040-3-008"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100008982","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100008982","name":"Qatar National Research Fund","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["GSRA8-L-1-0501-21022"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GSRA8-L-1-0501-21022"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100008982","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>HIV and Syphilis are common STIs, which have become a concern and burden on healthcare systems, as many infections go untreated and lead to potentially serious complications. HIV is usually diagnosed with Western blot, PCR, and p24 antigen testing. Whereas, Syphilis is mainly diagnosed through clinical findings and serologic testing. The Medical Commission Department (MC) under MOPH is responsible for screening all newcomers to Qatar, aiming to keep the country free from serious infectious diseases.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic efficiency of the protocols used in the MC for screening HIV and Syphilis infections.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>We conducted a retrospective study of samples analyzed by 4<jats:sup>th<\/jats:sup> Generation ARCHITECT\u00ae HIV Ag\/Ab Combo and Rapid Plasma Reagin (RPR) between January to December 2019. ARCHITECT\u00ae HIV Ag\/Ab Combo positive samples were confirmed by INNO-LIA\u2122 HIVI\/II and RT-PCR. RPR-reactive samples were confirmed by ARCHITECT\u00ae Syphilis <jats:italic>Treponema pallidium<\/jats:italic> Antibody (Syphilis TPA) assay.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>For HIV, data were collected from 585,587 individuals, of which 595 (0.1%) were positive by the ARCHITECT\u00ae HIV Ag\/Ab Combo (Analyzer A). When all initially positive sera were re-tested on newly collected blood samples using different ARCHITECT\u00ae HIV Ag\/Ab Combo analyzer (analyzer B), 99.8% (594\/595) of samples were also positive, suggesting high reproducibility. The positive predictive value (PPV) between ARCHITECT\u00ae HIV Ag\/Ab Combo and the INNO-LIA\u2122 HIVI\/II confirmatory assay was 31.8%. The PPV between ARCHITECT\u00ae HIV Ag\/Ab Combo and HIV-PCR assay was 26.8%. Retrospective data for Syphilis were collected from a total of 97,298 individuals who visited the MC, of which 198 (0.20%) were initially positive by RPR. The PPV between RPR and Syphilis TPA confirmatory assay was 36.6%.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec005\">\n<jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Despite the high rate of false positivity using ARCHITECT\u00ae HIV Ag\/Ab Combo and RPR screening assays, both assays have proven to be highly effective as screening testing methods.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0278079","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,7]],"date-time":"2023-02-07T18:34:11Z","timestamp":1675794851000},"page":"e0278079","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":16,"title":["Screening and diagnostic testing protocols for HIV and Syphilis infections in health care setting in Qatar: Evaluation and recommendations"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9252-1038","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Gheyath K.","family":"Nasrallah","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Raniya","family":"Al-Buainain","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nadin","family":"Younes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Soha R.","family":"Dargham","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Duaa W.","family":"Al-Sadeq","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mohamed","family":"Elhassan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ibrahim","family":"Al-Shaar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7592-2788","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Hadi M.","family":"Yassine","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Laith J.","family":"Abu-Raddad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mohamed M.","family":"Emara","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ahmed","family":"Ismail","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0278079.ref001","unstructured":"(WHO) WHO. 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