Diagnosis of dual human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2 infections in a resource-limited setting.

BACKGROUND The presence of dual HIV-1/HIV-2 infection in Ghana and the different drug requirements for the treatment of HIV-1 and HIV-2 presents difficulties for the treatment of dual infections with both viruses. OBJECTIVES To determine the prevalence of the dual sero-positive profile in treatment naive patients at a principal ART Clinic in Accra, Ghana and to investigate if rapid screening assays could be useful for diagnosis. DESIGN A cross-sectional study. SETTING A principal antiretroviral treatment centre in Accra, Ghana. SUBJECTS Three hundred and twenty eight antiretroviral treatment naive patients. RESULTS A total of 12 (3.7%) of patients seen were dual seropositive. There was a slight tendency of dual seropositive females being older than their HIV-1 counterparts (p = 0.088, CI = -10.833 to 0.753). Eight of the 12 of the dual seropositives were reactive for Genie II and were considered as possibly infected with both HIV-I and HIV-2. Seven (87.5%) of Genie II dual seropositives had strong intensities (> 1+) on both HIV-2 specific bands (sgp105 and gp36) on Innolia. CD4 counts were not significantly different in dual seropositives as compared to HIV-1 infected patients. CONCLUSIONS Dual HIV-1/HIV-2 seropositives (and possibly infections) maybe common especially in older women. The Genie II will be useful as a supplemental rapid test for rapid and accurate differentiation of HIV-1 and HIV-2 antibodies at treatment centres.