AN UPDATE ON THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF HIV, 1998

Major recent advances in HIV diagnosis include rapid screening serolog ical tests that yield results on the same day of testing, new serologi cal tests that detect infection with a wide variety of different HIV i nfections including HIV-1 group O and HIV-2, qualitative gene amplific ation tests (e.g.) that help confirm infection in persons with indeter minate serology, and quantitative gene amplification tests that detect low levels of plasma viremia (>50 virions/ml) and provide prognostic data essential for patient management. Major advances in treatment inc lude the development of drug combinations that completely block HIV re plication in a large proportion of adherent previously untreated HIV-i nfected persons, the demonstration that antiretroviral treatment, unde r some circumstances, prevents HIV transmission - during pregnancy and following occupational exposure, and the development of sophisticated assays for assessing the drug susceptibility of clinical HIV isolates . Ongoing clinical trials will help clinicians choose the optimal trea tment for both previously treated and untreated patients. (C) 1998 Pro us Science. All rights reserved.