@article {10846,
	title = {Evaluation of the limiting antigen avidity EIA (LAg) in people who inject drugs in Greece.},
	journal = {Epidemiol Infect},
	volume = {145},
	year = {2017},
	month = {2017 01},
	pages = {401-412},
	abstract = {This analysis assessed the utility of the limiting antigen avidity assay (LAg). Samples of people who inject drugs (PWID) in Greece with documented duration of HIV-1 infection were tested by LAg. A LAg-normalized optical density (ODn) ⩽1{\textperiodcentered}5 corresponds to a recency window period of 130 days. The proportion true recent (PTR) and proportion false recent (PFR) were estimated in 28 seroconverters and in 366 samples collected >6 months after HIV diagnosis, respectively. The association between LAg ODn and HIV RNA level was evaluated in 232 persons. The PTR was 85{\textperiodcentered}7\%. The PFR was 20{\textperiodcentered}8\% but fell to 5{\textperiodcentered}9\% in samples from treatment-naive individuals with long-standing infection (>1 year), and to 0 in samples with the circulating recombinant form CRF35 AD. A LAg-based algorithm with a PFR of 3{\textperiodcentered}3\% estimated a similar incidence trend to that calculated by analyses based on HIV-1 seroconversions. In recently infected persons indicated by LAg, the median log10 HIV RNA level was high (5{\textperiodcentered}30, interquartile range 4{\textperiodcentered}56-5{\textperiodcentered}90). LAg can help identify highly infectious HIV(+) individuals as it accurately identifies recent infections and is correlated with the HIV RNA level. It can also produce reliable estimates of HIV-1 incidence.},
	keywords = {Adult, Antibody Affinity, Diagnostic Errors, Female, Greece, HIV Antibodies, HIV Infections, Humans, Immunoenzyme Techniques, Male, RNA, Viral, Substance Abuse, Intravenous, Viral Load},
	issn = {1469-4409},
	doi = {10.1017/S0950268816002417},
	author = {Nikolopoulos, G K and Katsoulidou, A and Kantzanou, M and Rokka, C and Tsiara, C and Sypsa, V and Paraskevis, D and Psichogiou, M and Friedman, S and Hatzakis, A}
}
