Difficulties of Identifying the Early HIV Antibody Seroconversion Period Depending on the Confirmatory Assay.

Background: Identification of HIV infection at the early stage is valuable for patient management, for prevention, and for research purposes. In practice, identification of a recent HIV infection at diagnosis proves challenging after HIV antibody seroconversion but can be suspected using Western blots (WBs) or immunoblots (IBs) as confirmatory assays.

Methods: Five commercially available confirmatory assays were compared using 43 samples from recently infected individuals.

HIV surveillance combining an assay for identification of very recent infection and phylogenetic analyses on dried spots.

Background: Transmitted/founder viruses isolated at the early stage of infection are indicators of the variants that are spreading within a population. The French reporting system for new HIV diagnoses is linked to a virological surveillance using dried serum spots.

Methods: We combined an immunoassay for very recent infection (less than 31 days) to a phylogenetic analysis of transmitted/founder viruses and sociodemographic information to analyze the dynamics of the HIV-1 epidemic during a 3-year period.

Characteristics of patients recently infected with HIV-1 non-B subtypes in France: a nested study within the mandatory notification system for new HIV diagnoses.

The presence of HIV-1 non-B subtypes in Western Europe is commonly attributed to migration of individuals from non-European countries, but the possible role of domestic infections with non-B subtypes is not well investigated. The French mandatory anonymous reporting system for HIV is linked to a virological surveillance using assays for recent infection (<6 months) and serotyping. During the first semester of years 2007 to 2010, any sample corresponding to a non-B recent infection was analyzed by sequencing a 415-bp env region, followed by phylogenetic analysis and search for transmission clusters.

Continuous spread of HIV-1 subtypes D and CRF01_AE in France from 2003 to 2009.

Among 61 and 35 patients who were infected in France by viruses of the rare clades D and CRF01_AE, respectively, approximately half of them originated from areas where HIV-1 is endemic, but the data showed that both clades have spread in the French indigenous population, particularly in men having sex with men (MSM).

Population-based HIV-1 incidence in France, 2003-08: a modelling analysis.

Background: Routine national incidence testing with enzyme immunoassay for recent HIV-1 infections (EIA-RI) has been done in France since January, 2003. From the reported number of HIV infections diagnosed as recent, and accounting for testing patterns and under-reporting, we aimed to estimate the incidence of HIV infection in France in 2003-08.

Methods: We analysed reports from the French National Institute for Public Health Surveillance for patients who were newly diagnosed with HIV between January, 2003, and December, 2008.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 incidence among blood donors in France, 1992 through 2006: use of an immunoassay to identify recent infections.

Background: In France, blood donations found to be positive for the presence of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) are further tested to detect recent infections (< or =180 days) using an enzyme immunoassay (EIA-RI) developed in 2002. The characteristics of recently infected donors, estimates of HIV-1 incidence, and the residual risk of transfusion-transmitted HIV-1 are presented, in both first-time and repeat donors.

Study Design And Methods: Of the 1027 donations found to be HIV-1-positive between 1992 and 2006, a total of 459 could be retrospectively tested with the EIA-RI.

Prevalence of HIV-2 and HIV-1 group O infections among new HIV diagnoses in France: 2003-2006.

French national surveillance of new HIV diagnoses included the collection of dried serum spots to identify HIV serotypes. Between January 2003 and June 2006, 10,184 new diagnoses were reported. The proportions of HIV-2 and HIV-1 group O infections were 1.

Human immunodeficiency virus serotyping on dried serum spots as a screening tool for the surveillance of the AIDS epidemic.

Many studies have demonstrated the utility of the dried blood spot (DBS) or dried plasma/serum spot (DSS) method for serological and molecular diagnosis of HIV infection. Here, we report on the description of a serotyping assay performed on DSS, and its application to a national surveillance program of HIV variants. We combined serotyping assays that we developed previously to discriminate between HIV-1 and HIV-2, between HIV-1 group O and HIV-1 group M, and between B and non-B subtypes of HIV-1 group M.