HIV-2 in The Netherlands

By comparing data from the HIV confirmation laboratories it could be established that in the period prior to February 1991 a HIV-2 infection was demonstrated in at least 18 persons in the Netherlands. Consequently, use of combined HIV-1/2 tests is urgently recommended for screening in diagnostic and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNederlands tijdschrift voor geneeskunde Vol. 135; no. 45; p. 2129
Main Authors van Doornum, G J, van den Akker, R, Buitenwerf, J, Kroes, A C, Coutinho, R A, Lelie, P N
Format Journal Article
LanguageDutch
Published Netherlands 09.11.1991
Subjects
Adolescent
Adult
Blotting, Western
Deltaretrovirus Antibodies - isolation & purification
Deltaretrovirus Infections - epidemiology
Deltaretrovirus Infections - ethnology
Deltaretrovirus Infections - immunology
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Female
HIV Antigens - isolation & purification
HIV-2 - immunology
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Risk Factors
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Summary:By comparing data from the HIV confirmation laboratories it could be established that in the period prior to February 1991 a HIV-2 infection was demonstrated in at least 18 persons in the Netherlands. Consequently, use of combined HIV-1/2 tests is urgently recommended for screening in diagnostic and blood bank laboratories in the Netherlands. A suspicion of presence of HIV-2 antibodies may arise in the interpretation of a combined HIV-1/2-ELISA, a specific HIV-1-ELISA and the pattern of HIV-1 western immunoblot. Confirmation of the presence of HIV-2 antibodies should be obtained by means of western blots of viral lysates of both HIV-1 and HIV-2 and peptide tests from the transmembranous region. Most persons with a HIV-2 infection originated from Africa south of the Sahara or the Cape Verdean Islands or had had a sexual relationship with a person from these areas. The vast majority was heterosexual and 13 of the 18 infected persons were women. This differs greatly from the epidemiological pattern of HIV-1 infections in the Netherlands. The possibility of further spread of HIV-2 in the Netherlands via heterosexual contacts should be seriously taken into account.
ISSN:0028-2162