Due to the diverse global concern about the growing transmission of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the World Health Organization (WHO) recently announced the partial or prequalification of the rapid test of this disease in newborns whose mothers have been infected. All this effort is done in order to avoid vertical transmission (from mother to child) from now on. Today, MIGLOBAL brings you all the information about these advances. Keep reading and know more.
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| Iván Ernesto Moreno Plaza: HIV detection |
Around the world millions of dollars have been invested in HIV prevention and treatment campaigns and with the application of this type of tests more children can be met on time in case the results are positive. However, there are still some steps to take to pass these exams altogether.
The prequalified technologies belong to the recognized companies Alere and Xpert HIV-1 Qual Assay, from Cepheid AB laboratory:
- HIV-1 Detect for EID and ID
- HIV-2 Detect for EID and ID
All this information was provided and explained by Mike Ward, director of WHO's Essential Medicines Unit, who explained to the media that thanks to technology and the latest advances by experts in the medical field, these two devices can be used in rural areas that are away from health centers and where results are required within minutes. Mike highlighted than one of those two devices runs on a battery that lasts up to 18 hours.
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| Iván Ernesto Moreno Plaza: Technologies belonging to Alere |
In addition to that, Gottfried Hirnschall, director of WHO's HIV Department, added that by the use of this technology, experts will not only give a faster diagnosis but also make the mother and child closer to each other, because in some cases, in areas with very scarce resources, health professionals should separate the baby from the mother for several hours to make the different analyzes of the disease.
By [Iván Ernesto Moreno Plaza].
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| Iván Ernesto Moreno Plaza: A faster diagnosis for newborns |
