Point of care testing of HIV in children younger than 18 months with three different HIV virological assays. Experience from a district hospital in a resource-limited setting

Abstract

Diagnosis of HIV in children younger than 18 months can be challenging in developing countries because requires the use of HIV virological tests. In this study we describe the experience with three commercial assays, HIV- 1 DNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (Roche Amplicor 1.5) with dried blood spot, HIV-1 RNA PCR (Roche COBAS TaqMan) with plasma and reverse transcriptase activity assay (Cavidi Exavir Load 3) with plasma in a rural setting of India. Sensitivity and specificity were 98.1% (95% confidence interval [CI] 90- 100) and 99.3% (95% CI 97.9-99.9) for the HIV- 1 RNA PCR assay, 66.7% (95% CI 29.9-92.5) and 100% (95% CI 96.8-100) for the HIV-1 DNA PCR assay, and 100% (95% CI 48-100) and 98.7% (95% CI 92.8-100) for the reverse transcriptase activity assay respectively. The low sensitivity of the HIV-1 DNA PCR assay in this setting is worrisome and warrants further investigations.