The technology holds promise for expanding diagnostic services to HIV-infected infants in resource-poor settings due to the samples' longer lifespan with reduced need for refrigeration and the less invasive nature of the test compared with other methods. Unlike ELISA testing for HIV-antibodies in the blood, which may be transmitted to infants in pregnancy independently of the virus itself, dried blood spot testing can be used to detect genetic material of the actual virus, thereby avoiding the likelihood of a false positive result.