HIV-2: A summary of present standard of care and treatment options for HIV-2 infected individuals living in Western Europe.

HIV-2 infection is endemic in some countries in West Africa. Due to the lower prevalence in industrialized countries, there is limited experience and knowledge on management of HIV-2 infected individuals in Europe. Compared to HIV-1, there are differential characteristics of HIV-2 regarding diagnostic procedures, clinical course and, most importantly, antiretroviral therapy. We integrated the published literature on HIV-2 (studies and reports on epidemiology, diagnostics, clinical course, treatment) as well as expert experience in diagnosing and clinical care of HIV-2 infected to provide recommendations for a present standard of medical care of HIV- infected in Western European countries, including an overview of strategies for diagnosis, monitoring and treatment, with suggestions for effective drug combinations for first- and second line treatment, post-exposure prophylaxis and prevention of mother-to-child transmission as well as listings of mutations related to HIV-2 drug resistance- and CCR5/CRCX4 co-receptor tropism.