Summaries for patients. HIV nucleic acid testing program with automated Internet and voicemail systems.

摘要

Human immunodeficiency virus interferes with the body's ability to fight infection and can result in some types of cancer. People spread HIV through blood or other body fluids that contain the virus and during sexual contact. Treatments containing several drugs prevent death and improve the health of people who have HIV. Most experts recommend screening adults and adolescents for HIV infection so that those with infection obtain appropriate medical care and do not infect others. However, results for standard HIV tests are not usually positive until several weeks after infection occurs. People with recent HIV infection generally have very high amounts of virus in their body fluids and may be more likely to transmit HIV infection to others. A new test called the nucleic acid test can detect the virus sooner after infection than standard tests. However, it is not known how many additional people would be found to be infected if this test were used in screening programs.