Warning About Home Tests for STDs

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) warns against home testing kits for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

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An example of a home HIV test (the product pictured here is legally marketed in the US) WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, AGENCIA BRASIL

Home testing kits for sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV, hepatitis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis may be yielding false results, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) warned this week.

The HIV test, which are imported from China and sold online, are illegal in the UK, and many of the other tests failed to meet European regulations. The MHRA is investigating the matter and plans to shut down six UK websites selling the tests, the Press Association reported.

"These kits may be unreliable and there is a significant risk they could be providing the user with a false result," Susanne Ludgate, MHRA clinical director of devices, said in a press release. "We're concerned that there may be a number of self-test kits being sold ...

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Meet the Author

  • Jef Akst

    Jef Akst was managing editor of The Scientist, where she started as an intern in 2009 after receiving a master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses.
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