The CD-4 count test is now free for all AIDS patients.

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Immunity test for AIDS to be free

Kounteya Sinha

[3Jan, 2007 0037hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK] NEW DELHI:

The CD-4 count test — used to gauge immunity levels of an HIV-

infected patient and to assess whether damage caused by the virus

requires life-saving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) — is now free for

all AIDS patients.

The order making the CD-4 test free, aimed at encouraging early

testing for HIV/AIDS in India and a consequent reduction in

mortality, was passed by the National Aids Control Organisation

(Naco) on Tuesday.

Until now, each test, conducted twice a year on every HIV patient,

cost Rs 250. The test was free only for HIV-infected children and

patients below the poverty line.

Confirming this to TOI, Naco's ART consultant B B Rewari said

government's 101 ART centres will be notified of this decision

soon. " Till October 26, 2006, each test cost Rs 500. Then we slashed

the price by half. AIDS activists have been demanding a total waiver.

The order was signed on Tuesday to make the test free for every HIV

infected person in India, " Rewari said.

Naco director general K Sujatha Rao told TOI that India is stepping

up its prevention programme and hoping to reduce mortality due to

AIDS. At present, India has 58 CD-4 count machines. Over 38 more are

being procured.

" Blood samples of HIV patients are taken at ART centres where the

test can't be carried out and are processed in 58 centres which have

the CD-4 count machine, " Rewari added.

The test, which predicts risk of future infections, is presently

offered free to 52,000 patients already on ART in India where an

estimated 5.2 million people are infected with HIV. The CD-4 count is

used in combination with the viral load test which measures level of

HIV in blood. The test is ordered when a person is first diagnosed

with HIV as part of a baseline measurement. Tests are repeated every

six months.

The CD-4 count in healthy adults ranges from 500 to 1,500 cells per

cubic millimetre of blood. In HIV infected people, it goes down by 60

cells per cubic millimetre of blood per year as HIV progresses. ART

is administered when an HIV-positive person registers a CD-4 count

under 200.

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