HIV-2 infection in an American.
HIV-2 is endemic in West Africa but rare elsewhere. In the USA there have been 18 reported cases of HIV-2 infection; most identified people have been West Africans. We recently diagnosed the first case of HIV-2 infection in a native-born US citizen, a woman whose serum was found to be reactive to anti-HIV-1 enzyme immunoassay (EIA) when she attempted to donate blood in 1986. Although both HIV-1- and HIV-2-specific EIAs were reactive, the anti-HIV-2 Western blot (WB) was positive, while the anti-HIV-1 WB was positive or indeterminate on different occasions. Synthetic peptide testing was reactive for HIV-2 but not HIV-1. HIV-2 DNA was detected using the polymerase chain reaction procedure. Although she had travelled to West Africa, it is unclear how she became infected with HIV-2.
O'Brien
T R
TR
Division of HIV/AIDS, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA 30333.
Polon
C
C
Schable
C A
CA
VanDevanter
N
N
Rayfield
M A
MA
Wallace
D
D
Stuart
A
A
Holmberg
S D
SD
D000328:Adult; D015153:Blotting, Western; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015498:HIV-2; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012747:Sexual Partners; D014195:Travel; D014481:United States