Testing It Up

Massachusetts-headquartered Alere Inc. announced on March 1 that it was awarded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation more than $20 million in grant money and debt financing of up to $20.6 million for the development of an inexpensive TB test and HIV test.

In a news release, Alere said the $21.6 million grant will be used to produce a tuberculosis assay for both resource-constrained and well-resourced settings. The fund will also support the company’s efforts to incorporate one of its isothermal amplification technologies for TB detection onto the Alere™ Q — a compact, portable, and robust device intended for molecular testing at the point of care.

Alere will also receive below-market loans of up to $20.6 million for the expansion of the company’s manufacturing facilities in Jena, Germany for both point-of-care TB tests and HIV tests. Gates Foundation’s only condition is to make the diagnostic tests affordable and available to people in need in developing countries.

“Providing affordable products that transform the way medicine is practiced, especially in resource-limited settings, is part of Alere’s heritage,” Alere CEO Ron Zwanziger said. “We are very excited to have the support of the Gates Foundation in fighting one of the most dangerous infectious diseases, and we remain committed to providing solutions that improve health outcomes for individuals living with HIV.”

For over a decade, Alere has been developing and providing solutions that support screening for the world’s worst diseases, such as TB and HIV. Its new product development efforts focus on cardiology, infectious disease, toxicology and diabetes.

“Alere has a track record of diagnostic innovation and leveraging cost-effective technologies to improve health outcomes for individuals living with HIV in the most remote parts of the world. The Gates Foundation has put its support behind the company to apply these same principles in addressing the TB epidemic and potentially saving millions of lives,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Mention HIV test and you’re sure to get an “it’s only for HIV-infected people” kind of response. At the very least, you can’t expect a perfectly healthy person to declare “I’ve had an HIV test,” because to these days, HIV remains a sensitive topic where a lot of people are still inadequately informed.

In an effort to remove the stigma associated with HIV test, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is proposing that people ages 15 to 64 should get HIV screening at least once.

The independent panel’s draft guidelines are the latest recommendations that aim to make HIV screening simply a routine part of a checkup, something a doctor can order with as little fuss as a cholesterol test or a mammogram, the Journal Sentinel reports.

Task Force member Douglas Owens of Stanford University and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System said the guidelines allow doctors to tell their patients “This is a recommended test that we believe everybody should have. We’re not singling you out in any way.”

According to a new national study, 6 out of 10 young people with HIV don’t even know they have the infection. That’s because many people don’t treat HIV test as important as any other commonly administered medical tests.

The Task Force’s proposal also recommends testing people older and younger than 15-64 if they are at increased risk of HIV infection; testing people at very high risk for HIV infection at least annually; and testing women during each pregnancy, something the task force has long recommended.

If finalized, the guidelines could extend the number of people eligible for an HIV screening without a co-pay in their doctor’s office, as part of free preventive care under the Obama administration’s health care law.

The results of a study conducted by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had both good and bad news, in terms of HIV.

Based on the analysis of data from a 2009 survey of 10,000 people from 20 urban areas, HIV infections among those who use drugs intravenously have decreased by half in the past decade. However, it also indicated that HIV testing is on a decline, while such risky behaviors as sharing needles continue to persist.

The survey indicated further that 9 percent of intravenous drug users were infected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS.

Dr. Cyprian Wejnert, an epidemiologist at the CDC, shared: “Despite the fact that we’ve seen declines in new HIV infections, a substantial number of IDUs (injection drug users) in major US cities are HIV-infected and their risk behavior remains fairly high… We found 9 percent of IDUs were HIV-positive and nearly half of those were unaware of their infection.”

The survey included testing individuals for HIV, and asking them questions about risk behaviors and their use of HIV prevention services. It was determined that about a third of the survey respondents admitted to sharing syringes. In addition, most of them admitted to engaging in unprotected sex over the past year, and more than half said that they had more than one sexual partner.

Wejnert shared further: “While CDC recommends that individuals are tested for HIV at least annually, only 49 percent … reported being tested in the last 12 months.”

State authorities have launched an investigation after 23 children who received regular blood transfusions have tested positive for HIV in the Indian state of Gujarat. The children suffer from thalassaemia, a blood disorder affecting the body’s ability to create red blood cells, and received blood transfusions at a public hospital in Junagadh district.

Hospital officials have denied the children could have been infected by its blood supplies while State Health Minister Jay Narayan Vyas said that it is possible that the children might have been infected from getting blood transfusions at some other place.

The children’s parents are denying this. Shailesh Balash, a policeman said, “My son has been undergoing blood transfusion since last seven years. Transfusion has been done … every seven days. And all these years and times, it has been done only at Junagadh Civil Hospital. ‘Nobody else but the hospital authority is to be blamed for the negligence.”

“We have never gone anywhere else [for blood transfusions]. How can they (authorities) say that children were affected with the virus before getting registered?,” said Salim Sheikh, the father of one of the infected children.

National Thalassaemia Welfare Society general secretary J. S. Arora said HIV being spread by blood transfusion could be more widespread since HIV screening methods used in most Indian hospitals are outdated.

There is a stigma associated with undergoing HIV testing, as it seems to imply promiscuity and engaging in inappropriate behavior. Hence, there is the thought that not everyone needs to undergo this testing, and that it is only reserved for people who fall under a certain stereotype.

Experts believe, however, that this should not be the case. A feature on the Silicon Valley Mercury News shared the story of Naina Khanna, an Oakland resident of South Asian descent, who was told by her doctors in 2000 that she did not need to undergo testing for HIV. She did not, it was said back then, display any behavior that would place her in a high-risk category that merited the test.

In 2002, however, Khanna did get tested, and she was found to be HIV positive.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended in 2006 that everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 should undergo HIV tests, in settings where there is less than 0.1% prevalence of undiagnosed HIV infection. In addition, it was recommended that those who had an increased risk for HIV infection should undergo retesting annually. Monday’s observance of National HIV Testing Day is a good a time as any to be reminded of this.

National HIV Testing Day puts a spotlight on the significance of testing towards the prevention and timely treatment of HIV infection. It is only after learning that one is HIV positive that one can receive proper treatment, monitoring, and care, which would delay the progression of the disease, and prevent patients from unknowingly transmitting it to others.

December 1, 2009 is World AIDS Day, and countries all over the world take time out to remember those who have succumbed to this disease and to look into what has been and is being done and what else should be done towards the prevention, timely detection and management of the disease.

HIV/AIDS has infected more people in South Africa than in any other country in the world, so it is but fitting that the executive director of the United Nations AIDS program (UNAIDS), Michel Sidibe, is there today. Sidibe shares: “If I am not in South Africa for World AIDS Day, I don’t know where I should be.”

A study conducted by Harvard has determined that South Africa saw more than 300,000 premature deaths related to AIDS which were entirely preventable had the appropriate medication been administered to AIDS patients as well as to pregnant women in order to prevent the passing on of the HIV virus to their respective children. During the administration of the country’s former President, Thabo Mbeki, there were doubts regarding the link between HIV and AIDS. The regime’s health minister also did not trust life-extending drugs developed for AIDS patients and promoted beets and garlic as treatment for AIDS.

The delayed action of health officials is being pointed as the cause of preventable deaths among AIDS patients in South Africa, a situation that the current regime under President Jacob Zuma hopes to turn around.

In the United States, approximately 1.1 million people are infected by AIDS. New cases occur at a rate of 40,000 annually, and the challenge of the length of time between infection and the appearance of symptoms still remains to be an obstacle. A person infected by the HIV virus may not experience symptoms until as much as 10 or 15 years after initial infection; the absence of symptoms, however, will not prevent a patient from passing on the virus.

Prevention, therefore, is the best way to curb the spread of the disease. So too is timely testing, which means that anyone who feels that he or she may have been at risk should get tested. Testing need not be expensive, invasive and lengthy; it can involve a simple oral swab, with the results available in as little as 20 minutes.

There is good news to be shared as far as HIV/AIDS is concerned; Reports indicate that the rates for infection with HIV are decreasing. This change is reportedly the fruit of more powerful drugs as well as an increase in access to AIDS-centered care and health care facilities which has brought about a reduction in new infections with HIV by as much as 17 percent over the past eight years.

The decline is also being attributed to the fact that more people are getting tested and provided with appropriate support and care. The work however, is far from over, at least according to pioneering AIDS researcher Dr. Margaret Fischl of the University Of Miami School Of Medicine. Despite the decline in new cases as well as deaths due to the disease, the number of AIDS-related deaths is still too many for comfort.

For instance, there have been nearly 2.7 million people who were diagnosed with HIV in 2008; almost half a million, 430,000 of them, had been children. Since the disease was discovered in 1981, 25 million people have died due to AIDS.

What the study noticed, though, is that the significant improvements were felt in low-income, developing countries. Countries such as the United States and those in Europe did not exactly show very positive results. This is most probably due to the fact that appropriate care is more readily available in these countries than they are in developing countries. What this means is that there may have been a number of cases left unchecked and unidentified prior to the introduction of new techniques for treatment and testing.

Miami and For Lauderdale are two cities who are among the top 5 US cities for AIDS cases.

Miami Health Screening

Many people worry about contracting HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS. Even today, there is somewhat of a stigma with this disease that can be caught through blood or body fluid transmission. Many people are afraid to take a test to see if they have the disease.  They do not want to go to the doctor for such a test because they are afraid of the doctor passing judgment against them. This can be especially true if the person lives in a small community and knows their family doctor very well.

There are home testing products that you can use to help clear your mind about getting the AIDS virus. These home testing kits are easy to use and very discreet. You can purchase a home testing kit for HIV and mail in your test in discreet packaging to a processing center. After your test has been processed, you will then receive your results in an equally discreet manner.

Many people who use the HIV home test are very relieved to take the test and know that they do not have HIV. Those who do have HIV can see their doctor for medication. Thanks to the many advances that have taken place over the past decade when it comes to fighting AIDS, there are medications that can treat this condition. There have even been cases where those who were diagnosed with HIV managed to rid their body of the virus.

Instead of worrying about whether or not you have HIV and fearing the trip to the doctor, you can take a home testing kit that can give you the results that you want and, in most cases, rid your mind of worry.

Many people worry about contracting HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS. Even today, there is somewhat of a stigma with this disease that can be caught through blood or body fluid transmission. Many people are afraid to take a test to see if they have the disease. They do not want to go to the doctor for such a test because they are afraid of the doctor passing judgment against them. This can be especially true if the person lives in a small community and knows their family doctor very well.

There are home testing products that you can use to help clear your mind about getting the AIDS virus. These home testing kits are easy to use and very discreet. You can purchase a home testing kit for HIV and mail in your test in discreet packaging to a processing center. After your test has been processed, you will then receive your results in an equally discreet manner.

Many people who use the HIV home tests are very relieved to take the test and know that they do not have HIV. Those who do have HIV can see their doctor for medication. Thanks to the many advances that have taken place over the past decade when it comes to fighting AIDS, there are medications that can treat this condition. There have even been cases where those who were diagnosed with HIV managed to rid their body of the virus.

Instead of worrying about whether or not you have HIV and fearing the trip to the doctor, you can take a home testing kit that can give you the results that you want and, in most cases, rid your mind of worry.