RightHealth Daily Dose » PCR http://dailydose.righthealth.com We feature the one health item you simply cannot afford to miss. Mon, 22 Mar 2010 05:56:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Rapid HIV Tests Unreliable For Early Infections In Adolescents http://dailydose.righthealth.com/adolscent-health/rapid-hiv-tests-unreliable-for-early-infections-in-adolescents/ http://dailydose.righthealth.com/adolscent-health/rapid-hiv-tests-unreliable-for-early-infections-in-adolescents/#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:31:01 +0000 Steven http://dailydose.righthealth.com/?p=1819 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.

Read more and share your comments.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post to Facebook Share on Facebook

]]> http://dailydose.righthealth.com/adolscent-health/rapid-hiv-tests-unreliable-for-early-infections-in-adolescents/feed/ 0