Polymerase Chain Reaction for Seronegative Health Care Workers with Parenteral Exposure to HIV-Infected Patients

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Abstract
To the Editor: Recent publications in the Journal 1 , 2 and elsewhere3 4 5 6 7 8 9 have highlighted the diagnostic usefulness of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as a sensitive and specific technique for the detection of HIV-1 infection. PCR, as well as other diagnostic methods, has been used to demonstrate that unexpectedly long periods of HIV infection may occur in the absence of a positive blood test for specific HIV antibody.1 , 3 Imagawa and coworkers,1 for example, were able to culture HIV-1 from peripheral-blood mononuclear cells in homosexual men who had had periods of HIV-antibody negativity of at least 11 months; in two patients, they could . . .