[Quantification of HIV-1 viral load]

Abstract

Quantification of the viral load of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is an essential marker for the follow-up of HIV-infected patients and for monitoring antiretroviral treatment. The current methodology used in most Clinical Microbiology Departments is semi- or fully-automated real-time PCR, which has several advantages such as a wider range of quantification, higher sensitivity (<40 copies/mL) and rapid results due to the automated extraction systems. On the whole, almost all the available commercialized platforms have these advantages in addition to correctly detecting and quantifying the different subtypes and recombinant forms of HIV-1 that can infect patients. This latter point is very troublesome due to the wide variation of this virus and the continuous appearance of unusual variants and subtypes susceptible to quantification.