Clinically diagnosed AIDS cases without evident association with HIV type 1 and 2 infections in Ghana

Case studies increasingly point to the potential of HIV-negative individuals with clinically diagnosed AIDS. The results of hematologic tests on blood samples collected from 227 Ghanaian people with AIDS suggest the potential existence of many such cases. Blood samples were subjected to ELISA particle agglutination indirect fluorescent assay western blot and mono-epitope ELISA tests. 48 individuals tested positive for only HIV-1 17 for only HIV-2 11 were dual positive 16 indeterminate and 135 seronegative. All of those testing seronegative for HIV nonetheless suffered weight loss prolonged diarrhea and chronic fever. Many also exhibited lymphadenopathy tuberculosis dermatological diseases and neurological disorders. While many of these individuals may have been misdiagnosed as having AIDS the existence of unknown agents which are antigenically different from any know type of HIV should be seriously considered.