FOCUS Feb-07 Acute HIV Infection

developed, it became clear that individuals who had recently been infected were sometimes symptomatic. Their flu-like symptoms became known as “acute retroviral syndrome,” and the overall initial period of infection as “acute” or “primary” HIV infection. Now the term “primary HIV infection” usually describes the initial period in which infection occurs and immune responses develop, roughly spanning the first six months of infection. “Acute HIV infection” now commonly describes the period prior to and within the first few weeks of antibody seroconversion. Yet there is still some lack of consensus in the scientific community regarding the period to which each of these terms refers, and the terms “acute infection” and “primary infection” are sometimes used interchangeably. It is increasingly clear that primary HIV infection is a critical period for HIV prevention and disease development, and may be an important period for treatment. Recent advances in HIV testing may make this primary infection diagnosis more accessible.