Monitoring Virologic Responses to Antiretroviral Therapy in HIV-Infected Adults in Kenya: Evaluation of a Low-Cost Viral Load Assay

Sumathi Sivapalasingam, Beatrice Wangechi, Fatuma Marshed, Maura Laverty, Shaffiq Essajee, Robert S Holzman and Fred Valentine

PLOS ONE, 2009, vol. 4, issue 8, 1-9

Abstract: Background: A key advantage of monitoring HIV viral load (VL) in persons receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) is the ability to detect virologic failure before clinical deterioration or resistance occurs. Detection of virologic failure will help clarify the need for enhanced adherence counseling or a change to second- line therapy. Low-cost, locally performable alternates to expensive VL assays are needed where resources are limited. Methodology/Principal Findings: We monitored the response to 48-week ART in 100 treatment-naïve Kenyan adults using a low-cost VL measurement, the Cavidi reverse transcriptase (RT) assay and gold-standard assays, Roche RNA PCR and Bayer Versant HIV-1 RNA (bDNA) assays. In Altman-Bland plots, the mean difference in viral loads between the three assays was small (

Date: 2009
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0006828

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0006828

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