부산대학교 도서관

Objective: To determine retrospectively whether patients seen by GPs and hospital doctors in South London with symptoms and signs compatible with acute HIV infection remain undiagnosed. Methods: All request cards sent to the virology laboratory at St Thomas's Hospital between 5/1998 and 5/1999 were reviewed. Patients with symptoms and signs compatible with acute HIV infection were entered into the study (314). Trust databases were cross-referenced and those with other diagnoses (28), recent HW tests (two) and insufficient serum for testing (16) were excluded. After anonymization, samples were pooled into batches of 10 and each pool HIV antibody tested (microparticle enzyme immunoassay (MEIA), Abbott Axsym system). Samples in HIV antibody pools were re-tested individually and Western blots performed on those testing antibody positive. HIV antibody negative serum was pooled into batches of 10 and each pool tested for HIV RNA using nucleic acid sequence based amplification (NASBA, Organon-Teknika). Resu[ts: 8/268 (3%) of patients were HIV antibody positive; 2/268 (0.8%) had Western blot profiles compatible with acute HIV infection. None of the HIV antibody negative serum samples tested NASBA positive. Conclusion: Patients with acure HIV infection, seen by GPs and hospital doctors, remain undiagnosed. This study emphasizes the need for more risk assessment and HIV testing if patients are to be diagnosed early and potentially benefit from better treatment available now and in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]