Abstract
The 1st reported case of AIDS caused by human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2) in the US was diagnosed December 1987. The patient a West African who had come to the US in 1987 visited a physician because of a 3-year history of weight loss and recent onset of neurologic symptoms. A CAT revealed mass lesions that biopsy showed to be caused by Toxoplasma gondii. Biopsy of a lymph node revealed acid-fast bacteria. The patient did not give a history of sexual intercourse use of nonsterile needles or donation of blood while in the US. All family members and household contacts both in the US and abroad are reported to be well. Because this presentation fit the Centers for Disease controls (CDC) definition of AIDS investigators looked for laboratory evidence of infection with HIV. Testing of the patients serum revealed a negative enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for antibody to HIV-1 with an indeterminate HIV-1 Western blot (WB). However EIA for antibodies to HIV-2 was repeatedly reactive and HIV-2 WB revealed bands for antibodies to gag (p26) pol (p34) and env (gp140) proteins. DNA amplification by the polymerase chain reaction technique with HIV-1 specific and HIV-2 specific DNA probes (1) revealed HIV-2 DNA but not HIV-1 DNA in the patients lymphocytes and confirmed the diagnosis of HIV-2 infection.
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