On the Informativeness and Accuracy of Pooled Testing in Estimating Prevalence of a Rare Disease: Application to HIV Screening

When screening for a rare disease the large number of expected false positives makes it difficult to obtain a positive estimate of prevalence using current screening methodology. Pooled testing not only reduces the probability of this occurring, but also improves the accuracy of the estimator. These findings are illustrated by screening for the human immunodeficiency virus.