A finger prick for HIV test

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A finger prick for HIV test

4 Jul 2008, 0147 hrs IST, Kounteya Sinha,TNN

NEW DELHI: A single finger prick may soon help test Indians for HIV.

With plans to test 22 million Indians every year from 2012 for HIV,

the National AIDS Control Organisation (Naco) has just started trials

of a new rapid testing technology that will not only tell you your

HIV status within 20 minutes but will also do away with the present

requirement of having to separate serum and red blood cells to test

for HIV.

The Whole Blood Fingerprick Testing Technology (WBFTT), which has

done wonders in Africa in increasing the number of people being

tested for HIV, is being tried out at Integrated Counselling and

Testing Centres (ICTC) in 10 districts of four states — Maharashtra,

Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu — to gauge its effectiveness

in generating correct results.

Following the three-month trial of the technology, Naco will take a

final call on whether to introduce WBFTT in its National AIDS Control

Programme along with present day Serum HIV antibody rapid test.

Naco's ICTC expert Dr Suresh K Mohammed told TOI: " The kits at

present accept only serum to test for HIV antibody. The presence of

HIV antibody in your blood itself says you are infected. This

requires a centrifuge which separates the serum from the blood. The

new technology being tried now accepts whole blood and can tell your

HIV status by a simple finger prick. "

Naco director-general K Sujatha Rao said the pilot project to check

for WBFTT's efficacy and sensitivity was sanctioned by the National

AIDS Control Board in its recent meeting on June 11.

" If WBFTT proves successful for use in the national programme,

carrying out HIV testing will become simpler. Even Auxiliary Nurse

Midwife (ANMs) visiting families in the country's most backward

villages will be able to conduct HIV tests on consent, helping bring

ICTC services to the doorstep of people, " Rao said.

ICTC was started in India in 1997 and today the country has 4,500

such centres — the largest network in the world. Each ICTC is manned

by a trained counsellor and laboratory technician. HIV counselling

and testing services are free of cost and the results are kept

confidential. Since 2001, more than 18 million people have been

counselled and tested.

According to Dr Mohammed, out of the 2.5 million people living with

HIV/AIDS in India, only about 25-30% are aware of their HIV

status. " There is therefore an urgent need to increase access of ICT

services which can be achieved through simpler HIV testing

technologies like WBFTT. If the pilot project proves successful,

WBFTT will be used for HIV testing in ICTCs in all round-the-clock

public health centres, " he added.

Dr Dennis Broun, UNAIDS country head, said that rapid HIV tests makes

it possible for the patient to get pre-test and post-test

counselling, their test results, and any medical referrals they may

need, all in one visit.

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