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Laboratory diagnosis of the first cases of HIV-2 infection in Canada
P W Neumann1, M V O'Shaughnessy, D Lepine
1Bureau of Laboratories Services, Federal Centre for AIDS, Ottawa, Ont.
Abstract:
Until recently the geographic distribution of infection due to human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2) had excluded North America. We report the first two cases of such infection in Canada. Both people came from endemic areas of western Africa and were asymptomatic. The results of a commercial enzyme immunoassay specific for HIV-1 antibody were positive in both cases, but those of the Western blot technique were indeterminate. The Western blot technique specific for HIV-2 antibody and the indirect fluorescent antibody test were used to verify the presence of HIV-2 antibody.