{"doi":"10.3390/v15051161","title":"False-Positive Screening and Confirmatory HIV Diagnostic Test in a Patient with Cured SARS-CoV-2 Infection Is Not Mediated by Env/Spike Cross-Reactive Antibodies","abstract":"Acute SARS-CoV-2 infection has been associated with false-positive HIV screening tests. The underlying mechanism is unclear, and for clinical cases, evidence beyond a temporal connection is missing. However, several experimental studies point toward SARS-CoV-2 spike/HIV-1 envelope (Env) cross-reactive antibodies (Abs) as a cause. Here, we present the first case of an individual with convalescent SARS-CoV-2 infection testing false positive in both an HIV screening and confirmatory test. Longitudinal sampling showed that the phenomenon was temporary but lasted for at least 3 months before waning. After excluding a multitude of common determinants for assay interference, we further show by antibody depletion studies that SARS-CoV-2-spike-specific Abs did not cross-react with HIV-1 gp120 in the patient sample. No additional case of HIV test interference was identified in a cohort of 66 individuals who presented to a post-COVID-19 outpatient clinic. We conclude the SARS-CoV-2-associated HIV test interference to be a temporary process capable of disturbing both screening and confirmatory assays. The assay interference is short-lived and/or rare but should be considered by physicians as a possible explanation for unexpected HIV diagnostic results in patients with a recent SARS-CoV-2 infection.","journal":"Viruses","year":2023,"id":358490,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":11,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9592,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1108893,"name":"Gwenllian A. Appeltrath","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":96807,"name":"Margarethe Konik","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1108894,"name":"Janine Parreuter","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1108575,"name":"Martina Broecker‐Preuss","orcid":"0000-0003-4537-0964","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":418033,"name":"Adalbert Krawczyk","orcid":"0000-0001-9502-9903","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":634066,"name":"Stefan Eßer","orcid":"0000-0002-3625-9650","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1108895,"name":"Stefanie Sammet","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":897465,"name":"Christina B. Karsten","orcid":"0000-0003-1934-6442","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1108574,"name":"Carina Elsner","orcid":"0000-0001-6590-8413","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":43,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:13:43.629667Z","pmid":"37243248","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}