Chapters in Books (Medical Virology)

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    Rapid testing for respiratory syncytial virus in a resource-limited paediatric intensive care setting
    (2020-12-08) Newman, Howard; Tshabalala, Donald; Mabunda, Sikhumbuzo
    We analysed the performance characteristics of the respiratory syncytial virus lateral flow rapid antigen assay in use when compared to a multiplex polymerase chain reaction for detection of respiratory viruses. The study was conducted at a tertiary paediatric hospital in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, from 01 January 2017 to 31 December 2018. We found the clinical sensitivity (36.8%) of the rapid test to be too low for routine diagnostic use. Knowledge of assay performance characteristics of rapid tests are important for appropriate interpretation of rapid test results.
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    Pooled testing: A tool to increase efficiency of infant HIV diagnosis and virological monitoring
    ("Authors retains Copyright", 2020-08) Preiser, Wolfgang; Van Zyl, Gert U
    Background: Pooled testing, or pooling, has been used for decades to efficiently diagnose relatively rare conditions, such as infection in blood donors. Programmes for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and for antiretroviral therapy (ART) are being rolled out in much of Africa and are largely successful. This increases the need for early infant diagnosis (EID) of HIV using qualitative nucleic acid testing and for virological monitoring of patients on ART using viral load testing. While numbers of patients needing testing are increasing, infant HIV infections and ART failures are becoming rarer, opening an opportunity for pooled testing approaches.