A matter of context – time to clinically validate 9-month infant HIV testing in South Africa(?)

Abstract

The author discusses a recent article (Fairlie et al.) about the need for increased identification and early treatment of postnatally HIV-infected infants and suggests that testing at 9 months of age using HIV rapid tests (HRTs) will assist in this regard. While agreeing on this point the author is less certain that such a practice will reduce the number of HIV polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests done with resultant cost savings as the original article concluded.