“…Since acute retroviral syndromes mimic many common febrile illnesses, including infectious mononucleosis, influenza, malaria, and rickettsial diseases (1,10), the true diagnosis (acute HIV) is rarely considered at an initial patient encounter (1,(10)(11)(12). The diagnostic challenge in acute HIV infection is made more difficult by the fact that routine HIV antibody tests will typically remain negative for 1-2 weeks beyond the onset of acute retroviral symptoms (26-35 days following initial infection) (5, 13); additional virus-specific diagnostic tests (e.g., HIV p24 antigen ELISA and HIV nucleic acid amplification assays) are needed to detect HIV infection prior to the appearance of antibodies ( Figure 1).…”