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All clinical HIV tests are polyclonal anti-antibody (usually ELISA) tests.  They will detect antibodies against conserved viral protein motifs that occur even in the rarest strains (they are required for the virus to function).

All clinical HIV tests are polyclonal anti-antibody (usually ELISA) tests.  They will detect antibodies against conserved viral protein motifs that occur even in the rarest strains (they are required for the virus to function).

That said, I have encountered cases in the literature where a patient was negative to ELISA but positive to a PCR test; however, those cases remain so rare that they are the "textbook" cases which prove the rule.  Furthermore, in most of these cases, the negative ELISA had an immunological explanation, as opposed to being caused by a particular strain of HIV. --[[User:JHunter|JHunter]] 01:25, 9 March 2012 (EST)

That said, I have encountered cases in the literature where a patient was negative to ELISA but positive to a PCR test; however, those cases remain so rare that they are the "textbook" cases which prove the rule.  Furthermore, in most of these cases (truthfully, every one of them that I can remember), the negative ELISA had an immunological explanation, as opposed to being caused by a particular strain of HIV. --[[User:JHunter|JHunter]] 01:25, 9 March 2012 (EST)