BHIVA 2016: First Data on Uptake of HIV Self-Testing in the U.K.
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- Category: HIV Testing & Diagnosis
- Published on Sunday, 08 May 2016 00:00
- Written by Roger Pebody
Between April 2015 and February 2016, almost 28,000 people have paid £29.95 (about US$45) for a kit allowing them to test for HIV at home, according to a presentation at the recent British HIV Association (BHIVA) conference in Manchester. Marketing on Grindr has been important in driving sales, which have been concentrated in non-urban areas.
Opt-Out HIV, HBV, and HCV Testing in Emergency Departments Identifies Many New Infections
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- Category: HIV Testing & Diagnosis
- Published on Wednesday, 13 April 2016 00:00
- Written by Michael Carter
A week-long pilot study involving 9 U.K. emergency departments has shown that routine opt-out testing for HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) can identify a significant number of previously undiagnosed infections, according to study results published in the March edition of HIV Medicine.
IAS 2015: WHO Urges More HIV Testing Outside Clinical Settings, Targeting Those Who Need It Most
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- Category: HIV Testing & Diagnosis
- Published on Thursday, 23 July 2015 00:00
- Written by Roger Pebody
In addition to recommending that routine HIV testing in medical settings be expanded to reach new groups, the World Health Organization’s new guidance on HIV testing also recommends the delivery of testing by non-medical 'lay providers," often in community settings. The guidance urges planners to make careful, strategic choices about which HIV testing interventions will be best able to reach individuals with undiagnosed HIV. New approaches may be needed to reach key populations.
CROI 2016: Partner Notification of HIV Status Is Feasible and Effective In African Settings
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- Category: HIV Testing & Diagnosis
- Published on Wednesday, 06 April 2016 00:00
- Written by Roger Pebody
Partner notification programs, offering testing to the sexual partners of people newly diagnosed with HIV, have rarely been implemented in African countries, but can be highly effective there, studies presented at the recent Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2016)show. A randomized study in Kenya found that partner notification services were able to test 42% of partners mentioned, increasing testing rates 4-fold.
June 27 Is National HIV Testing Day
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- Category: HIV Testing & Diagnosis
- Published on Saturday, 27 June 2015 00:00
- Written by HIVandHepatitis.com
June 27 is National HIV Testing Day (NHTD), an opportunity to promote HIV screening and awareness of its importance as an entry point to the continuum of care. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 14% of people living with HIV do not know they are infected, but new CDC data released this week show that HIV diagnosis rates vary substantially across the country, ranging from 77% in Louisiana to 90% or higher in 5 states.
CROI 2016: HIV Home Testing During Pregnancy Doubles Male Partners Who Test
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- Category: HIV Testing & Diagnosis
- Published on Friday, 04 March 2016 00:00
- Written by Roger Pebody
A program of home visits, partner education, and HIV testing for couples in Kenya was able to double the proportion of men who tested during their partner’s pregnancy, Carey Farquhar from the University of Washington reported at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2016) in Boston last week. Partners became aware of each other’s HIV status without this being linked to an increase in intimate partner violence.
BHIVA 2015: Undiagnosed HIV Infections Picked Up When Testing People with Other Medical Conditions
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- Category: HIV Testing & Diagnosis
- Published on Friday, 01 May 2015 00:00
- Written by Roger Pebody
A Europe-wide project offering HIV tests to hospital patients with glandular fever symptoms, swollen lymph nodes, a low white blood cell count, a low platelet count, or pneumonia has found that over 3% of tested patients had previously undiagnosed HIV, according to a presentation at the British HIV Association (BHIVA) annual meeting last month in Brighton. This significantly exceeds the level of 0.1% HIV prevalence at which routine HIV testing interventions are considered to be cost-effective.
IAS 2015: HIV Self-Testing May Help "Hard to Reach" Learn Their Status, but Uncertainties Remain
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- Category: HIV Testing & Diagnosis
- Published on Wednesday, 12 August 2015 00:00
- Written by Roger Pebody
HIV self-testing (or home testing) is likely to have an important place in future global HIV strategies, but at the moment there are significant gaps in the evidence base of how it may best be made available, to which populations, and with what kind of support. So while the World Health Organization (WHO) has clearly signaled its enthusiasm for the approach, its new guidance on HIV testing, launched at the 8th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention last month in Vancouver, reviews what we know so far about self-testing but does not actually recommend it. Several self-testing studies were also presented at the conference.
FDA Approves Roche's Simultaneous Blood Test for HIV, HBV, and HCV
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- Category: HIV Testing & Diagnosis
- Published on Thursday, 29 January 2015 00:00
- Written by Roche
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Roche Diagnostics' new cobas TaqScreen MPX screening test, which can simultaneously detect genetic material of HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) in donated blood and plasma, the company recently announced.