Laboratory Diagnosis of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection. (Reannouncement with New Availability Information).

摘要

The acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is the clinically apparent preterminal stage of a prolonged infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), most often manifested as Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, Kaposi's sarcoma, or other opportunistic infections or malignancies. AIDS is by definition a clinical syndrome diagnosis. This article deals exclusively with the diagnosis of HIV infection, not with AIDS, and reflects the author's belief that quality medical care demands a precise etiologic diagnosis. A United States Presidential Commission recently stated that the term AIDS is obsolete. Nowhere is this more true than in the diagnostic laboratory.