Infectious disease physicians are warning that commonly used rapid HIV tests may not be the best initial exam to rule out HIV in teenagers. Often times teenagers arrive at the physician’s office complaining of flu-like symptoms – sore throat, fatigue, fever, joint and muscle aches. However, acute HIV infection can present exactly as such; this is known as Acute Retroviral Syndrome (ARS). Often times a physician will order a rapid HIV test to rule out ARS, forgetting that rapid HIV tests detect antibodies to the HIV virus, which will not have been produced in detectable quantities until weeks later. Rather, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test should be ordered instead, which directly detects the HIV virus itself. This is should be the case for adults as well. If a health care provider has high suspicion that a patient may be HIV positive and is presenting with symptoms of ARS, they should think twice before ordering a rapid HIV test and opt for a PCR test.
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Tags: acute retroviral syndrome, adolescent health, ARS, HIV, PCR, rapid HIV testing
Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.