Standard HIV tests that are currently available may not be able to detect a very recent HIV infection, but a new, more sensitive test can help to detect HIV in its very early stages, it has been revealed.
Dr. Sheldon R. Morris and his colleagues of the University of California, San Diego were able to identify 15 HIV positive patients using a new testing procedure, that the regular test would not have been able to indentify.
Researchers noted that in the first few days following the infection, a person will typically have high concentrations of the virus in their bloodstream, making subsequent infection of others that much more likely.
Whereas standard tests identify HIV infection by the presence of antibodies, the new procedures will help identify the infection even before the antibodies start to be produced by the body.
So this new procedure of testing will help identify those very early infections that standard testing would miss.
The advantage of early identification of an HIV infection could mean that the number of new infections will help to be curtailed and reduced.
