You Tell the Class That ELISAs and Western Blots Are

Multiple Choice

You tell the class that ELISAs and Western blots are performed in a clinic or laboratory. However, there are a variety of tests that can be performed at home. With the oral fluid antibody self-test, a person swabs their own mouth and uses a kit to test the sample. The kit looks similar to a pregnancy test. Saliva is collected on a swab which is then inserted into the "tube" containing a test strip on which certain HIV proteins are bound. The saliva moves up the test strip until it reaches two windows on the tube - one is labeled C and the other is labeled T. When the saliva reacts with the bound virus proteins, a color change is seen. Results are interpreted as follows:
No color in the C window-test is not working.
Color in the C window but none in the T window-negative result.
Color in the C window and color in the T window-positive result.
Given this information, select the FALSE statement.

A) The C window is a positive control-if color appears there, it confirms that the test is working properly.
B) The T window is the test window. If color appears both there and in the C window, it indicates that anti-HIV antibodies are present in the person's saliva.
C) This test is an ELISA test that is used to detect antibodies in a person's saliva.
D) If color appears in the T window but not in the C window, the kit is not working properly.
E) This test is an ELISA test that is used to detect the presence of viral capsid proteins in a person's saliva.