Seroconversion in female sex workers attending the Instituto Higiene

Primary HIV infection refers to two entities, acute HIV infection that occurs in individuals before the development of antibody response, and early HIV infection in which individuals have already seroconverted, but are still at a very early stage of infection. Understanding the pathogenesis of acute and early HIV infection could identify new strategies that would alter the rate of disease progression and reduce secondary transmission. A problem of hidden magnitude is Syphilis and HIV, where the presence of syphilis in a person allows the risk of acquiring HIV to be 3 to 9 times as likely as a person who does not have it, and causes HIV behavior to change STI symptomatology. A problem in HIV, is that all infected people generate detectable antibodies from one to three months of infection; and sometimes longer periods, up to 6 months; and only certain cases end up generating antibodies after this time, when it takes the name of seroconversion in 364 sex workers, who were tested for HIV and VDRL in INH Machala from January to December 2008.