Diagnosing acute HIV infection: The performance of quantitative HIV-1 RNA testing (viral load) in the 2014 laboratory testing algorithm.
New recommendations for laboratory diagnosis of HIV infection in the United States were published in 2014. The updated testing algorithm includes a qualitative HIV-1 RNA assay to resolve discordant immunoassay results and to identify acute HIV-1 infection (AHI). The qualitative HIV-1 RNA assay is not widely available; therefore, we evaluated the performance of a more widely available quantitative HIV-1 RNA assay, viral load, for diagnosing AHI. We determined that quantitative viral loads consistently distinguished AHI from a false-positive immunoassay result. Among 100 study participants with AHI and a viral load result, the estimated geometric mean viral load was 1,377,793copies/mL.
Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA. Electronic address: prestopkimo@gmail.com.
Hsiu
H
Wu
San Francisco Department of Public Health, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Stephanie E
SE
Cohen
New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, New York City, NY, USA.
Emily
E
Westheimer
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA(1).
Cynthia L
CL
Gay
Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA; ICF International, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Laura
L
Hall
Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Charles
C
Rose
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA(1).
Lisa B
LB
Hightow-Weidman
San Francisco Department of Public Health, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Severin
S
Gose
New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, New York City, NY, USA.
Jie
J
Fu
Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA. Electronic address: pjpeters@cdc.gov.
Philip J
PJ
Peters
D000465:Algorithms; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D025202:Molecular Diagnostic Techniques; D021141:Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D014481:United States; D019562:Viral Load
D012367:RNA, Viral
Acute HIV infection; Fourth-generation immunoassay; HIV diagnosis; HIV testing; Quantitative HIV-1 viral load