A 31-year-old male patient complains of fatigue, yeast infection in his mouth, and enlarged lymph nodes under his arms. He said that he was involved in "high-risk" behavior 6 years ago while on a trip to eastern and southern Africa. He also indicated that his "HIV test" was negative. Which one of the following options would be most appropriate?

HIV-2 is present in Africa, the Far East, and some pas of the Caribbean area. Many of the screening tests for HIV-1 will not detect antibodies to HIV-2. Either a separate HIV-2 antibody test or a combination HIV-1/2 is necessary. While HTLV disease is also seen in the same geographic areas, the symptoms are more akin to HIV disease. While an HIV-1 RNA PCR is a useful test for monitoring the results of HIV therapy, it is not approved for diagnosis nor will it detect HIV-2 nucleic acid. Reference: Ananthanarayan and Paniker&;s Textbook of Microbiology Tenth edition