Laboratory evaluation of four HIV/syphilis rapid diagnostic tests

Abstract

BackgroundSexually transmitted infections, such as HIV and syphilis, are one of the major health care problems worldwide, especially in low- and middle income countries. HIV screening programmes have been widely used for many years. The introduction of rapid point-of-care tests (RDTs) that can detect both HIV and syphilis, using one single blood specimen, would be a promising tool to integrate the detection of syphilis into HIV programmes and so improve the accessibility of syphilis testing and treatment.MethodsAs part of the World Health Organization pre-qualification of in vitro diagnostics assessment, the laboratory performance of four dual HIV-Syphilis rapid diagnostic tests (SD Bioline HIV/Syphilis Duo, DPP HIV-Syphilis Assay, Multiplo Rapid TP/HIV Antibody Test and Insti Multiplex HIV-1/HIV-2/Syphilis Antibody Test) was assessed using a well characterized multiregional panel of stored sera specimens.ResultsIn total 400 specimens were tested with each assay, resulting in excellent sensitivities and specificities for HIV, ranging from 99.5 to 100% and from 93.5 to 99.5%, respectively. Results obtained for the Treponema pallidum antibodies were lower, with the lowest sensitivity of 73.5% for Multiplo and the highest of 87% for SD Bioline. Specificities ranged from 99.0 to 100%.ConclusionAlthough these results suggest that the tests could further improve in accuracy in detection of treponemal antibodies, their introduction into screening programmes to increase the accessibility of HIV/Syphilis diagnosis and treatment for difficult to reach populations in the world is promising.

Virological suppression and clinical management in response to viremia in South African HIV treatment program: A multicenter cohort study

“…Reported virological suppression rates in LMIC vary widely [34]. The majority of available data originate from single-center studies performed at specialized clinics and hospitals [35][36][37][38][39][40]. Although the results of these studies are important, they are likely not representative of clinical care in large-scale treatment programs.…”

Spatio-temporal modeling of visceral leishmaniasis in Midwest Brazil: An ecological study of 18-years data (2001–2018)

“…In our study, the analysis of an 18-year series in an endemic urban area considered an area of intense VL transmission [16,49] revealed important findings regarding the epidemiology and spatio-temporal distribution of the disease by highlighting the rapid transition from epidemic to endemic status. This analysis has also indicated a greater occurrence of diseases in extremes of age and an inverse association with covariables related to socioeconomic status, suggesting the greatest risk of illness in vulnerable human populations [50].…”

“…Even though it is not possible to establish causal inferences from ecological studies, they allow the analysis of certain questions due to the evaluation of the association of a certain disease and variables of interest that are defined in aggregates of individuals [76,77]. Studies have helped us to understand some factors related to the dynamics of VL dissemination in Brazilian cities, a phenomenon that was poorly understood until the early 1990s [19,20,49,78,79].…”

Isolation Compliance and Associated Factors Among COVID-19 Patients in North-West Iran: A Cross-Sectional Study

“… 1 Although coronaviruses have been mostly reported in animals, other types of coronavirus have caused pandemics of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in the world within the past two decades. 2–8 The mortality rates of SARS and MERS were respectively reported at 10% and 37%, which are higher in comparison to COVID-19. 9 , 10 …”