Primary HIV Infection and the Acute Retroviral Syndrome: The Urgent Need for Recognition

The new widespread availability of HIV viral-load testing, along with potent new antiviral therapeutic regimens, has created the opportunity for very early detection and treatment of acute HIV infection. It is critical that clinicians rapidly recognize primary HIV infection and consider the therapeutic options available during this early stage of disease. Recent evidence is a basis for hope that very early therapy will improve prognosis and perhaps even eradicate HIV.

The period between initial exposure to and infection by HIV and the development of an HIV-specific antibody response is generally defined as primary HIV infection. Natural history during this stage of infection is characterized by bo…