[Laboratory diagnosis of HIV infection]

Recent use of modern methods in the field of molecular biology has provided new insights into the genetic and structural nature of HIV, which are now increasingly being applied to the diagnostic work-up. For the reliable laboratory diagnosis of HIV infection, three different possibilities are available: detection of specific antibodies against viral proteins (anti HIV AB), detection of the virus itself (HIV antigen) and detection of viral nucleic acid using in vitro amplification techniques. In this overview, we compare clinical and diagnostic parameters of an HIV infection, and discuss the current state of the art of an HIV infection and the future prospects offered by new molecular biological methods such as the use of recombinant antigens or the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the detection of viral nucleic acid.