HIV is the etiologic agent of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and can be transmitted through sexual contact, exposure to infected blood, body fluids, prenatal infection of a fetus or perinatal or postnatal infection of a newborn. In infants who acquire HIV around the time of delivery, disease progression occurs very rapidly in the first few months of life, often leading to death. To enable antiretroviral (ARV) prophylaxis to be given to infants as soon as possible after birth, all infants should have their HIV exposure status known at birth. Proviral DNA testing is the gold standard for diagnosing HIV-1 infection in newborns. The main application of HIV pro-viral DNA PCR is to diagnose HIV infection in infants born to HIV-infected mothers.
Please consult a Microbiologist or Microbiology Registrar before sending samples.
Testing is commonly performed at birth and after the compulsory 6 weeks treatment.
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241599085
Microbiology - Virology
HIVP
Dedicated EDTA tubes required
Performed routine Monday-Friday as required.
No add-on testing available, dedicated EDTA sample required.
HIV DNA detection
HIV proviral DNA
Proviral DNA
3 days
2888