Can dormant HIV be diagnosed?

It has long been the case that a person could have HIV, but not be diagnosable until it turned into AIDS. There is a new round of synthetic compounds that now can make the Human Immune Virus more detectable. "Research has been hampered, though, because the compounds are difficult to obtain, particularly in the quantities needed for practical lab work on their mode of action and therapeutic potential. The yield from both plants is low and highly variable; the availability of the plants is limited; and isolating the compound is difficult. Heavy harvesting of the wild plants, especially in Samoa, also could cause ecological damage. But synthetic prostratin and DPP, which now can be readily made in the lab, changes that equation. "We have now minimized, if not eliminated, the issue of availability of prostratin and DPP," Wender said. "But equally, if not more importantly, we have opened access to other compounds that might be similar in structure but superior in function."