Persistence of HIV-1 silent infection in seronegative subjects at high risk

Twenty regular sexual partners of HIV-1 infected subjects, without detectable human irnmunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) antibody and positive for HIV-1 genome by in situ hybridization (ISH), were selected and studied longitudinally for 6–36 months to estimate the duration of silent infection. During the follow-up period, 10 showed atypical Western Blot (WB) patterns. Two seronegative partners seroconverted. Rapid progress t o AIDS was observed in 7 seropositive subjects.