Panafrican News Agency - December 14, 2001
It is worth noting that the CD4 lymphocytes are cells circulating in the blood stream targeted by the virus when an individual is infected with HIV.
The technique, commercialised under the name Dynabeads, was presented at the 12th Africa International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmisible Diseases (CISMA) by Dr Serge Diagbouga of the Muraz Centre and ANRS director Michel Kazatchkine.
The two experts told the audience that the cytometry flow, a classical technique, requires an investment of 30 to 40 million CFA francs (40,000 to 54,000 US dollars) for equipment and six million CFA francs (8,000 dollars) per annum for maintenance.
They explained that in addition to the cost, the handling of the machine requires training in the understanding of immunology. In the sub-region, these machines are available only in Dakar, Senegal, Abidjan in Cote d'Ivoire and Bobo Dioulasso in Burkina.
The initial investments cost for the Dynabeads is estimated at 8 to 9 million CFA francs (10,700 or 12,000 dollars) and the cost of treatment is 2,000 CFA francs (2.8 dollars).
CISMA participants said that if a country undertakes to buy them in large quantities, the cost could be reduced by 100 percent. In addition to the counting technique, the microscope used by the Dynabeads may also serve in the laboratory to do KOP (gout and toxoplasmosis tests).
To ensure that the Dynabeads technique is well understood, 47 technicians from Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Senegal and Togo have been trained.
Diagbouga explained that the Dynabeads counting technique has been standardised because the technicians (with baccalaureate level) proved that they understood it.
"The counting technique is indispensable for a good medical prescription for the antiretroviral treatment of HIV cases."
Diagbouga added that because it is easy to use, reliable and cheap, Dynabeads might be popularised in secondary centres in African countries to ensure it reached the highest possible numbers of patients.
"In the long-term it will facilitate the caring of patients outside hospitals," he said.
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