There has been some recent excitement about the use of a relatively new tool for HIV research to distinguish between recent and long-term HIV infections. The Limiting Antigen Avidity Enzyme Immunoassay (LAg-Avidity EIA) test is used to detect how strongly the antibodies found in an infected person's blood bind to HIV - their avidity. Since antibody avidity increases with length of infection, antibodies that only bind to the virus weakly are a sign of relatively recent infection.
Although right now this test is only being used in research settings, it could be a very useful tool for clinicians as well. Not only have recent studies suggested that early treatment is an important tool in the long term fight against AIDS, people who have just learned that they are HIV positive often have concerns about when they became infected. A test like this, were it commercially available, could give them answers. There are other options for distinguishing new and old infections, but they are neither widely available nor likely to become so.
Source: http://std.about.com/b/2012/08/15/identifying-new-hiv-infections.htm
herpes hsv 2 symptoms type 1 herpes genital pictures herpes simplex hpv test chlamydia
No comments:
Post a Comment