Quantitation of HIV-1 RNA in Genital Secretions

The continuing spread of the HIV-1 epidemic worldwide has stimulated efforts to develop vaccines and decrease transmission of HIV-1 as noted in Chapter 8 . Key to this effort is the characterization of the qualities of HIV-1 in genital secretions. Seminal cell and seminal plasma culture have been used to isolate HIV-1 from semen but have low recovery rates of 9-50% (1-11). Culture of vaginal cells have also had low recovery rates of 0-30% (12-14). In an attempt to overcome this problem, HIV-1 has been evaluated in genital secretions using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques. Compared to culture techniques, PCR techniques, both DNA and RNA, have had a higher recovery rate of HIV-1 from genital secretions (2,3,7,9-11,13-25).