Technological challenges in diagnosis and management of HIV infection in resource limited settings

doi:10.1136/bmj.39275.457188.AE

BMJ 2007;335:165-166 (28 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.39275.457188.AE

Editorials

Technological challenges in diagnosis and management of HIV infection in resource limited settings

Relatively quick and cheap tests can work but must be evaluatedand monitored properly

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

With the HIV epidemic in its third decade, appropriate use oftechnology in resource limited settings has taken on added importanceas priorities shift from detection and prevention to care andsupport for people living with HIV. At the same time, thereis a continuing need for evaluation of and improvement in thecritical diagnostic tools, such as rapid tests for HIV, whichhave become indispensable in settings with a high prevalenceof infection.

In this week's BMJ two studies look at such evaluations. MacLennanand colleagues¹ assess the diagnostic accuracy and clinicalutility of a simplified flow cytometry method for measuringCD4 counts that promises a more affordable alternative for routineclinical use in resource limited settings. Gray and colleagues²highlight problems encountered with the use of rapid tests forHIV screening in rural Rakai, Uganda.

As the world moves towards universal access to antiretroviraltreatment, healthcare providers are . . . [Full text of this article]

Purnima Madhivanan, PhD candidate¹, Karl Krupp, programme director²

¹ Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-7350, USA, ² Public Health Research Institute, CSI Holdsworth Memorial Hospital, PO Box 38, Mysore, Karnataka, India

mpurnima@berkeley.edu