Dec. 3, 2007 A test commonly used to confirm HIV infection can
also be used to calculate how many recent infections have
occurred in a population, according to a study by University of
Zurich researcher Jörg Schüpbach and colleagues, published in
PLoS Medicine. Diagnosing recent HIV infection usually involves
special testing to detect antibodies produced early on in the
course of infection. The researchers showed that analyzing data
already available from an antibody test routinely used to
confirm HIV infection in Switzerland can accurately estimate the
proportion of people who became infected within the previous 12
months. The antibody test (INNO-LIA HIV I/II Score, produced by
the Belgium-based company Innogenetics) is not currently
approved for HIV screening in the United States and is not
generally used in developing countries. The test could, however,
provide a cost-effective means to improve HIV surveillance in
countries that already use it for confirming HIV infection.
Citation: Schupbach J, Gebhardt M