A 31-year-old male patient complains of fatigue, yeast infection in his mouth, and enlarged lymph nodes under his arms. He said that he was involved in "high-risk" behavior 6 years ago while on a trip to eastern and southern Africa. He also indicated that his "HIV test" was negative. Which one of the following options would be most appropriate?
Initiate treatment for HIV disease
Order a test for human T cell leukemia virus (HTLV)
Repeat the test for HIV-1
Order an HIV test which would include antibodies to HIV-1 and HIV-2
HIV-2 is present in Africa, the Far East, and some pas of the Caribbean area. Many of the screening tests for HIV-1 will not detect antibodies to HIV-2. Either a separate HIV-2 antibody test or a combination HIV-1/2 is necessary. While HTLV disease is also seen in the same geographic areas, the symptoms are more akin to HIV disease. While an HIV-1 RNA PCR is a useful test for monitoring the results of HIV therapy, it is not approved for diagnosis nor will it detect HIV-2 nucleic acid. Reference: Ananthanarayan and Paniker&;s Textbook of Microbiology Tenth edition
Immunology