Identifying Patients with Acute HIV Infection and Their Partners

In North Carolina, a protocol for negative or indeterminate HIV-antibody results that involved nucleic acid amplification testing, confirmatory antibody testing, and follow-up interviews led to identification of newly infected partners of newly infected patients.

HIV infection is transmitted more readily by people with acute infection than by those with established infection because acutely infected patients are more likely to have high viral loads in their blood and genital secretions, to be unaware of their positive serostatus, and to engage in high-risk behaviors.

In November 2002, North Carolina adopted routine nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT) for all serum samples with negative or indeterminate results on HIV-antibody tests that had been conducted with patient consent at publicly funded sites. Positive NAAT results were followed up with antibody or quantitative HIV-RNA testing, and all repeat-positives were further confirmed by antibody testing on a subsequent specimen.

Retrospective ana…

Reviewing Author

Sonia Nagy Chimienti, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Sonia Nagy Chimienti, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Identifying Patients with Acute HIV Infection and Their Partners

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Reviewing Author