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To the Editor: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) surveillance is in need of a practical and valid method to measure recent HIV incidence rates, and the BED test (a test developed for HIV subtypes B, E, and D)¹ is increasingly being used for this purpose. However, we are greatly concerned over claims of validity given the confusing results this test generates. In their study of risk factors for recent HIV infection in Uganda, Dr Mermin and colleagues² used this test to estimate incidence in Uganda as 1.8 per 100 person-years at risk (pyar) among 15- to 59-year-olds. The greatest incidence rates were for 35- to 39-year-old women (3.5/100 pyar) and 30- to 34-year-old men (2.8/100 pyar).

The most recent direct empirical estimate of incidence in Uganda is 0.25 per 100 pyar in 2005 for a rural southwest region, with a prevalence level similar to that observed nationally.³ In these data, the . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Timothy Hallett, PhD
timothy.hallett@imperial.ac.uk

Geoff Garnett, PhD
Imperial College London
London, United Kingdom

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