Open AccessIntegrating Clinical Services for HIV, Tuberculosis, and Cryptococcal Disease in the Developing World
Author(s) -
Tara Vijayan,
Jeffrey D. Klausner
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of the international association of providers of aids care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.813
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 2325-9582
pISSN - 2325-9574
DOI - 10.1177/2325957413500472
Subject(s) - tuberculosis , disease , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , intensive care medicine , medicine , antiretroviral therapy , diagnostic test , developing country , aids related opportunistic infections , antifungal , cryptococcal meningitis , immunology , sida , pediatrics , viral disease , pathology , biology , viral load , dermatology , ecology
The success of antiretroviral therapy (ART) programs in the developing world is limited by the lack of adequate diagnostic tests to screen for life-threatening opportunistic infections such as tuberculosis (TB) and cryptococcal disease. Furthermore, there is an increasing need for implementation research in measuring the effectiveness of currently available rapid diagnostic tests. The recently developed lateral flow assays for both cryptococcal disease and TB have the potential to improve care and greatly reduce the time to initiation of ART among individuals who need it the most. However, we caution that the data on feasibility and effectiveness of these assays are limited and such research agendas must be prioritized.