TABLE 1.

Detection of HIV-1 RNA in cervicovaginal secretions from 25 asymptomatic, untreated HIV-1-infected African women collected by vaginal washing or by endocervical, vaginal wall, and vaginal fornix swabbing

Patient no.	Age (yr)	HIV-1 RNA quantitative detectionc by:
		Cervicovaginal washing procedure (log HIV RNA copies/ml)a	Swabbing procedure (log HIV RNA copies/μg of total RNA)b
			Endocervix	Vaginal wall	Vaginal fornix
1	18	<1.69	1.491	<1.1	<1.1
2	24	<1.69	<1.1	<1.1	<1.1
3	25	1.924	1.447	1.255	3.554
4	20	3.468	1.613	3.973	4.014
5	31	3.279	2.1	3.358	3.175
6	28	3.326	3.122	3.492	3.556
7	25	4.348	2.255	1.929	3.561
8	28	3.785	2.32	1.875	2.928
9	23	2.881	2.818	1.322	1.462
10	32	5.792	3.127	3.908	2.663
11	20	<1.69	<1.1	<1.1	<1.1
12	30	5.045	2.238	1.633	3.568
13	25	2.716	2.481	2.176	3.122
14	24	5.456	2.838	1.301	2.176
15	24	5.173	3.389	1.756	3.538
16	30	<1.69	1.973	<1.1	3.447
17	27	3.21	1.477	1.826	2.897
18	26	3.459	1.732	1.924	<1.1
19	20	3.609	1.491	3.289	3.312
20	21	<1.69	<1.1	<1.1	<1.08
21	30	3.875	1.613	1.633	2.382
22	22	4.565	2.843	2.364	<1.1
23	25	<1.69	<1.1	<1.1	<1.1
24	29	4.388	2.188	<1.1	<1.1
25	23	3.56	1.892	3.066	3.498
Mean ± SD		3.191 ± 1.53	2.018 ± 0.72	1.963 ± 0.99	2.434 ± 1.13

^aThreshold of detection, 50 copies of viral RNA (1.69 log HIV RNA copies) per ml. The data are given per milliliter of vaginal lavage without taking into account the dilution factor introduced by the vaginal washing procedure (1:10).

^bA threshold of 12.5 copies of HIV RNA per μg of total RNA (1.1 log HIV RNA copies/μg of total RNA) was estimated in swab samples.

^cAn arbitrary value of 10 HIV-1 RNA copies was used when HIV RNA was undetectable in the vaginal lavage or in genital swab samples.