Detection of acute infections during HIV testing in North Carolina.

Background: North Carolina has added nucleic acid amplification testing for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to standard HIV antibody tests to detect persons with acute HIV infection who are viremic but antibody-negative.

Methods: To determine the effect of nucleic acid amplification testing on the yield and accuracy of HIV detection in public health practice, we conducted a 12-month observational study of methods for state-funded HIV testing. We compared the diagnostic performance of standard HIV antibody tests (i.