Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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New Vision (Kampala) - November 18, 2002
Gerald Businge
Akite was HIV-positive. But thanks to the counselling, she was able to deal with the results. She even agreed to join the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission project (PMTCHT) at Mulago hospital.
In the project, expectant mothers who are HIV-positive are advised on how to protect their unborn and newly born babies from HIV infection. This is mainly through strict administration of Nevirapine (an anti- retroviral drug) and advice on safer infant feeding habits.
But when Akite underwent another HIV test at Mulago, she was negative. Akite has to this day refused to believe she is HIV-negative. This is because at her home centre they used one rapid test, which sometimes gives unreliable results.
"I have been trying with difficulty to convince this lady that she is HIV-negative. You should be very careful in your health centres to have at least two tests in order to be sure about the results," said Prof. Francis Miiro, while addressing participants in a PMTCHT workshop held at Entebbe Botanical Beach Hotel from November 13-15.
Bosco Kafuju, a lab technician with the Mulago PMTCHT project, told the participants that it is advisable to take at least two or three tests in order to be very sure. And all these can be done in less than 20 minutes.
"You need one test using highly sensitive strips, and another with highly specific strips. The highly sensitive one will give you all the positives including false positives. In the highly specific we test antigens specifically for HIV. If the two tests don't give you similar results, then use a tie-breaker which combines the two," Kafuju told participants.
Kafuju said the rapid tests are still the preferred method of testing because they have a cost and time advantage and are readily available and a useful option for HIV screening at a larger scale. contradictory HIV results discourage some people from taking tests.
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