The FDA’s Blood Products Advisory Committee will soon consider recommending the OraQuick Advance test for over-the-counter sales.

The test is accurate more than 99 percent of the time, Spair said. Still, a positive result from the test should be confirmed through an additional test by doctors or public health officials, he said.

To take the test, a person swabs the inside of his mouth, between the cheek and gum, to insert his saliva into a vial of fluid that comes with the kit. Twenty minutes later, an indicator will light up if the test detects the presence of HIV-1 or HIV-2 antibodies.

Those antibodies become present in the body several weeks after a person acquires HIV; the test will not detect the virus if it was more recently acquired.