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Testing people with conditions suggesting HIV could pick up more recent infections, Europe-wide study finds
Gus Cairns, 2011-10-14 15:40:00
A pilot study in in 14 European countries, in which groups of patients presenting with one of eight conditions strongly associated with HIV were routinely tested for HIV in various medical settings, found an HIV prevalence rate of 1.8%. this is far in excess of national rates and of the 0.1% prevalence rate suggested by the US Centers for Disease Control as suggesting routine HIV testing of the population, and suggests targeting people with these so-called indicator conditions (ICs) for HIV testing could be an efficient way of detecting infection.
The study found relatively high CD4 counts and a high prevalence in patients presenting with mononucleosis-like illness. These symptoms are usually caused by Epstein-Barr virus but may also be due to HIV seroconversion. This suggests that testing for indicator conditions might be a good way of detecting more people in early HIV infection.
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