The constant evolution of testing methodologies for the human retroviruses demands that periodic reviews of the capabilities of these methodologies used in the public health laboratories be conducted. To this end, the Association of State and Territorial Public Health Laboratory Directors (ASTPHLD) sponsored the Sixth Conference on Human Retrovirus Testing March 57, 1991, in Kansas City, Missouri. Approximately 285 conference participants viewed 36 poster presentations, heard 12 plenary session speakers discuss a variety of topics relevant to retrovirus testing, and participated in six panel sessions concentrating on the most relevant topics of human retrovirus testing.

Panel Session 1 was entitled ‘Testing for HIV-1.” Topics discussed included rapid testing methods, western blots, testing of nontraditional samples, surrogate markers, recombinant/synthetic-based assays, western blot interpretation criteria, indirect fluorescent antibody methods, and viral detection methods.