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Research appearing online January 18
in Clinical Chemistry, the journal of the American Association for Clinical
Chemistry (AACC), demonstrates that a handheld mobile device can perform HIV
testing through blood drawn from a prick to the finger, and then synchronize
the test results with a patient’s electronic medical records.
For the study, a team designed a
device that performs the essential functions of enzyme-linked immunosorbent
assays, which are the most commonly used laboratory diagnostic for HIV. Because of the real-time data upload, the
mobile device will allow policymakers and epidemiologists to monitor disease
prevalence more efficiently across geological regions.
According to an AACC press release,
of the 34 million individuals infected with HIV globally, 68 percent live in
sub-Saharan Africa, with south and southeast Asia bearing the second greatest
burden of disease. Many HIV-infected individuals in these regions cannot get
tested or treated because they cannot easily travel to centralized healthcare
centers.
A low-cost, portable device that
performs HIV testing could help to combat these trends and the overall global
epidemic through assisting with the diagnosis and treatment of HIV-infected
individuals in regions where resources are limited.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
