Diagnosis of HIV Infection

Clinical signs and symptoms may raise the possibility that someone is HIV positive.
However, remember that there may be other causes for similar clinical lesions:
Glandular Fever-Like Syndromes during seroconversion.
Patients may be immunocompromised for other reasons.
The history may indicate that the patient belongs to a high risk group for transmission of Blood-borne Viruses including HIV:
The relevant questions are considered in the Inoculation Injuries page.
However, the diagnosis needs to be confirmed by detection of:
HIV antibodies:
Only positive following seroconversion.
Assays of antibodies raised against HIV form the basis to what has become generically known as an 'AIDS test'.
HIV RNA:
Assays that estimate of the viral load are:
Usually only undertaken when HIV antibodies are present.
Important in the determination of:
Timing of, and response to treatment.
How infective a patient is (low titre, low infection risk).
HIV testing should only be undertaken by someone with the appropriate training to counsel the patient.
If you see a patient who you suspect may have undiagnosed HIV infection, a prompt referral should be made to an Oral Medicine Unit for further assessment in the near future.