Pitfalls of viral load testing

Potential Pitfalls in Estimating Viral Load Heritability.

In HIV patients, the set-point viral load (SPVL) is the most widely used predictor of disease severity. Yet SPVL varies over several orders of magnitude between patients. The heritability of SPVL quantifies how much of the variation in SPVL is due to transmissible viral genetics. There is currently no clear consensus on the value of SPVL heritability, as multiple studies have reported apparentl...

Viral load testing in resource-limited settings.

Handling for Viral Load Testing and Surveillance

RNA remains the most informative and accurate biomarker for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 load diagnostics and for surveillance of drug resistance markers. Viral load testing by nucleic acid amplification currently is a complex and expensive test that is restricted to centralized laboratory testing. Successful extension of centralized viral load testing to rural or remote settings is a ma...

Plasma viral load testing in the management of HIV infection.

The polymerase chain reaction assay, branched DNA assay and nucleic acid sequence-based amplification assay quantitate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) RNA levels. Plasma viral load (PVL) testing has become a cornerstone of HIV disease management. Initiation of antiretroviral drug therapy is usually recommended when the PVL is 10,000 to 30,000 copies per mL or when CD4+ T-lymphocyte counts ar...

Options to Expand HIV Viral Load Testing in South Africa: Evaluation of the GeneXpert® HIV-1 Viral Load Assay

BACKGROUND Expansion of HIV viral load (VL) testing services are required to meet increased targets for monitoring patients on antiretroviral treatment. South Africa currently tests >4million VLs per annum in 16 highly centralised, automated high-throughput laboratories. The Xpert HIV-1 VL assay (Cepheid) was evaluated against in-country predicates, the Roche Cobas Taqmanv2 and Abbott HIV-1RT, ...