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Michael J. Roy, MD, MPH; James J. Damato, PhD; Donald S. Burke, MD
Walter Reed Army Medical Center Washington, DC

JAMA. 1993;270(18):2179.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

In Reply.

—We concur with Tenenbaum et al that our results do not, and cannot, absolutely rule out the possibility that seroreversion of HIV antibody status may occur. Our conclusion is therefore that if seroreversion occurs, it is exceedingly rare, and certainly far less common than errors that may occur in the testing process.

Tenenbaum et al question how frequently HIV-reactive adults are tested in the military health care system. Our standard policy is for patients to be restaged, using the Walter Reed Staging Classification, every 6 months.¹ Generally, antibody tests are repeated in the evaluation of early-stage patients, but less commonly in patients who have progressed to the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Our potential seroreverters did not have a greater number of antibody tests because they demonstrated significant progression of disease, with four dying from complications of AIDS. Our most recent potential seroreverter, patient 6, had five antibody . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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