Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Editorial
. 1988 May 7;1(8593):1027-8.

HIV-2 in perspective

No authors listed
  • PMID: 2896872
Editorial

HIV-2 in perspective

No authors listed. Lancet. .

Abstract

PIP: The identification of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-2 has given rise to difficulties that were not anticipated when HIV-1 was thought to be the only virus involved in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). HIV-2, which seems to be prevalent only in Africa, differs from HIV-1 in its envelope and core proteins, and is more closely related to the simian AIDS virus than to HIV-1. Commercial assay kits that use HIV-2 antigen to detect anti-HIV-2 are available from only 1-2 manufacturers, although the cross-reactions between HIV-2 antibody and HIV-1 antigen probably allow most HIV-2 infections to be recognized by existing anti-HIV-1 assays. Until more HIV-2 infections are found in Europe and the US, unselected screening of blood donors for HIV-2 would be hard to justify. At present, testing of donors with West African connections and exclusion of those who have had sexual contacts in sub-Saharan Africa are probably sufficient measures to protect recipients in developed countries from HIV-2. More information is needed in 2 areas: HIV-2 infection in Africa and its effects, and the possible range of retrovirus infection in blood donors.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources