High concordance between polymerase chain reaction and antibody testing of specimens from individuals dually infected with HIV types 1 and 2 in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa.
In this study we have evaluated the concordance between serology, using five commercially available antibody assays designed to discriminate between HIV-1 and HIV-2, and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the detection of HIV-1 and HIV-2 dual infection. Thirty-seven HIV-1 and HIV-2 dually reactive serum samples from individuals in Guinea-Bissau with total CD4+ T lymphocyte counts ranging from 9 to 948 x 10(6)/liter were included in the study. All samples were tested by Multispot, Pepti-LAV, and Immunocomb HIV-1 and HIV-2 discriminatory antibody assays. Thirty-two of the 37 samples were also tested by a combination of two HIV type-specific antibody enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA; Wellcozyme HIV-1 and Murex HIV-2). Each sample showed dual reactivity in all or any of these assays. A nested PCR based on primer systems in the vif and pol regions of HIV-1 and in the gag and LTR regions of HIV-2 was used to evaluate the serological results. Thirty samples from HIV-1 antibody-positive individuals and 30 samples from HIV-2 antibody-positive individuals were all PCR positive with their corresponding primer systems. The type specificity was 100% for all of the primer systems. The concordance between dual HIV-1 and HIV-2 reactivity on the serological assays and PCR was 77.7% for Multispot, 80% for Pepti-LAV, 81.8% for Immunocomb, and 85.7% for the two ELISAs used in combination. Thus the majority of individuals included in this study appeared to be truly dually infected. The study shows that it is possible, through a careful selection of assays, to reach a high concordance between serological assays and PCR in studying HIV-1 and HIV-2 dual infections.
Walther-Jallow
L
L
Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control and Microbiology and Tumor Biology Center, Karolinska Institute, Solna.
Andersson
S
S
da Silva
Z
Z
Biberfeld
G
G
D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006169:Guinea-Bissau; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1; D015498:HIV-2; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic