We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress hp
Sign In
Advertise with Us
PURITAN MEDICAL

Download Mobile App




Collaboration to Undertake HIV Resistance Testing in Africa

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 06 Aug 2012
Sequencing-based diagnostics for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals will be carried out in Africa in order to determine resistance to antiretroviral drugs.

Life Technologies Corp. More...
(Carlsbad, CA, USA) is collaborating with the Southern African Treatment and Resistance Network (SATuRN) to develop a simple-to-answer solution for antiretroviral (ARV) drug resistance testing, which is being made available to African partners at a reasonable cost per test. The test can be run on Life's Applied Biosystems line of Sanger sequencing instruments, which are broadly installed in African hospitals and HIV-testing centers.

Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for HIV treatment are becoming increasingly available in the developing world but resistance to these drugs develops in many HIV-infected individuals. Resistance can be monitored by genetic sequencing of two viral genes, but current costs have made routine use prohibitive in most African countries.

The methods developed as part of this collaboration have the potential to become the most accurate and cost-effective methods for the diagnosis of resistance pathogens in Africa and the referral of patients for appropriate care. The price of DNA/RNA genotyping is rapidly decreasing as technology evolves rapidly, and the software applications to be used and further developed are all open source and available in Africa.

Additional collaborators on the test development include the Stanford HIV Drug Resistance Database).

"We have trained 1,315 physicians and medical personnel on the interpretation of HIV drug resistance in southern Africa. The region has more than 2 million patients on ARV treatment, and we believe that now is the time for the use of genotyping technology to fight the battle against drug resistance," said Dr. Tulio de Oliveira, director of SATuRN and senior researcher at Wellcome Trust-Africa Centre. "This partnership with LIFE will allow more laboratories to use genotyping techniques, and large surveys on drug resistance to be produced to inform national department of health and policy makers in the region."

SATuRN is a consortium of virologists, clinicians, epidemiologists, bioinformaticians, policy makers, public health specialists, and social scientists working on HIV treatment and care in southern Africa. SATuRN has developed an approach to virological failure clinical management that ensures the delivery of drug resistance genotyping and clinical management to remote clinics without them needing elaborate computer systems or infectious disease specialists on site.

By applying telemedicine and off site laboratories, specialists and physicians from medical centers across the world can review cases, including clinical and resistance data, and give feedback and advice to the clinician managing the patient at the primary clinic.

Life Technologies Corp. is a global biotechnology company. It has more than 50,000 products for agricultural biotechnology, translational research, molecular medicine and diagnostics, stem cell-based therapies, forensics, food safety, and animal health.

Related Links:
Life Technologies Corp.
Saturn
Stanford HIV Drug Resistance Database


New
Gold Member
Serological Pipets
INTEGRA Serological Pipets
Serological Pipet Controller
PIPETBOY GENIUS
New
ESR Analyzer
TEST1 2.0
New
Clinical Chemistry System
P780
Read the full article by registering today, it's FREE! It's Free!
Register now for FREE to LabMedica.com and get access to news and events that shape the world of Clinical Laboratory Medicine.
  • Free digital version edition of LabMedica International sent by email on regular basis
  • Free print version of LabMedica International magazine (available only outside USA and Canada).
  • Free and unlimited access to back issues of LabMedica International in digital format
  • Free LabMedica International Newsletter sent every week containing the latest news
  • Free breaking news sent via email
  • Free access to Events Calendar
  • Free access to LinkXpress new product services
  • REGISTRATION IS FREE AND EASY!
Click here to Register








DIASOURCE (A Biovendor Company)

Channels

Molecular Diagnostics

view channel
Image: A diagnostic test can distinguish patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma who can be cured with surgery alone (Photo courtesy of University of Turku)

Novel Diagnostic Tool to Revolutionize Treatment Guidance of Head and Neck Cancer

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a solid tumor type commonly treated with surgery. However, there has been no clinically available method to determine which patients can be cured with surgery... Read more

Hematology

view channel
Image: The microfluidic device for passive separation of platelet-rich plasma from whole blood (Photo courtesy of University of the Basque Country)

Portable and Disposable Device Obtains Platelet-Rich Plasma Without Complex Equipment

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) plays a crucial role in regenerative medicine due to its ability to accelerate healing and repair tissue. However, obtaining PRP traditionally requires expensive centrifugation... Read more

Immunology

view channel
Image: The 3D paper-based analytical device has shown high clinical accuracy for adult-onset immunodeficiency (Photo courtesy of National Taiwan University)

Paper-Based Device Accurately Detects Immune Defects in 10 Minutes

Patients with hidden immune defects are especially vulnerable to severe and persistent infections, often due to autoantibodies that block interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), a key molecule in immune defense.... Read more

Technology

view channel
Image: The Check4 gene-detection platform (Photo courtesy of IdentifySensors)

Electronic Biosensors Used to Detect Pathogens Can Rapidly Detect Cancer Cells

A major challenge in healthcare is the early and affordable detection of serious diseases such as cancer. Early diagnosis remains difficult due to the complexity of identifying specific genetic markers... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2025 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.