Urine samples from 358 asymptomatic males were screened for urethral inflammation by the leukocyte esterase (LE) test and for Chlamydia trachomatis by the ligase chain reaction (LCR). LE and LCR positivity rates were 7.5% (27 of 358 samples) and 2.8% (10 of 358 samples), respectively. Eight of the 10 LCR-positive samples were detected by the LE screening test. The urine LE prescreening test in combination with the LCR assay may be a reasonable approach for genitourinary chlamydial disease control.

No abstract

Diagnosis of acute human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, a key driver of the HIV epidemic, remains a public health challenge. The PlasmAcute technology offers an opportunity to detect early anti-HIV antibody responses. B lymphocytes (B cells) were isolated from the blood of seronegative miners in South Africa by using the PlasmAcute method. B-cell lysates and paired sera were tested for anti-HIV-1 antibodies by two different enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays; immunoreactivity was confirmed by Western blotting. All volunteers were tested for HIV type 1 (HIV-1) viral load, p24 antigen, and CD4 count. Sera from HIV-seronegative men who had positive viral loads and were positive for p24 antigen were retested for anti-HIV antibodies after immune complex dissociation. Anti-HIV antibodies were detected in lysates from 16/259 subjects without immunoreactivity in paired sera. Four subjects, one of whom had a positive viral load initially, subsequently seroconverted. Six subjects showed transient anti-HIV-1 antibodies in the lysates and tested negative for all markers at the follow-up. Five subjects without follow-up data initially had lysate-positive/ serum-negative samples, and these cases were classified as inconclusive. One subject had lysate antibodies and a detectable viral load but was seronegative at follow-up. In conclusion, lysate-derived anti-HIV-1 B-cell antibodies can be detected prior to seroconversion and earlier than or contemporary with HIV-1 RNA detection.