Page "Diagnosis of HIV/AIDS" Paragraph 58

HIV tests have been criticized by AIDS denialists ( a fringe group that believes that HIV either does not exist or is harmless ).

The accuracy of serologic testing has been verified by isolation and culture of HIV and by detection of HIV RNA by PCR, which are widely accepted " gold standards " in microbiology.

While AIDS denialists focus on individual components of HIV testing, the combination of ELISA and Western blot used for the diagnosis of HIV is remarkably accurate, with very low false-positive and-negative rates as described above.

The views of AIDS denialists are based on highly selective analysis of mostly outdated scientific papers ; there is broad scientific consensus that HIV is the cause of AIDS.