Viral Load Detection Using Dried Blood Spots in a Cohort of HIV-1- Infected Children in Uganda: Correlations with Clinical and Immunological Criteria for Treatment Failure
Date
2014-04-22
Authors
Costenaro, Paola
Lundin, Rebecca
Petrara, Maria Raffaella
Penazzato, Martina
Massavon, William
Kizito, Susan
Nabachwa, Sandra Monica
Nannyonga Musoke, Maria
Namisi, Charles
Morelli, Erika
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Abstract
High rates of virological suppression were reported among
HIV-1-infected children of low- and middle-income countries
(LMIC) up to 5 to 6 years after receiving combined antiretroviral
treatment (cART) (1). In 2013, the World Health Organization
(WHO) recommended viral load (VL) monitoring as the
preferred approach to detecting treatment failure (TF) among
HIV-1-infected children. High costs, a lack of adequate facilities,
and inappropriate handling of specimens still limit the implementation
of VL monitoring in LMIC, leading to delays in detecting
treatment failure when immunological and/or clinical criteria
are used instead.
Description
Keywords
Viral load detection, Dried blood spots, HIV, Infected children, Uganda, Treatment failure, HIV-1-infected children, Low- and middle-income countries