Acute HIV infection (AHI) is associated with a surge in peripheral blood cellular and inflammatory biomarkers such as alpha interferon (IFN-α), C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 10 (CXCL10; also known as interferon gamma-induced protein 10), tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1) and CD8+ T cell activation [22–28]. Here, CCL2 is linked to HIV infectious disease.