TY - JOUR
T1 - A new model to monitor the virological efficacy of antiretroviral treatment in resource-poor countries
AU - Colebunders, Robert
AU - Moses, Kamya R.
AU - Laurence, John
AU - Shihab, Hasan M.
AU - Semitala, Fred
AU - Lutwama, Fred
AU - Bakeera-Kitaka, Sabrina
AU - Lynen, Lut
AU - Spacek, Lisa
AU - Reynolds, Steven J.
AU - Quinn, Thomas C.
AU - Viner, Brant
AU - Mayanja-Kizza, Harriet
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank David Bangsberg, Alain Bouckenooghe, Emanuel Bottieau, Stevens Callens, Paul De Munter, Meg Doherty, Luc Kestens, Allan Ronald, Walter Schlech, Patrick Soentjens, Eric Van Wyngaerden, and Ian Woolley for reviewing the paper before submission. We also thank the Academic Alliance Foundation for financial support.
PY - 2006/1
Y1 - 2006/1
N2 - Monitoring the efficacy of antiretroviral treatment in developing countries is difficult because these countries have few laboratory facilities to test viral load and drug resistance. Those that exist are faced with a shortage of trained staff, unreliable electricity supply, and costly reagents. Not only that, but most HIV patients in resource-poor countries do not have access to such testing. We propose a new model for monitoring antiretroviral treatment in resource-limited settings that uses patients' clinical and treatment history, adherence to treatment, and laboratory indices such as haemoglobin level and total lymphocyte count to identify virological treatment failure, and offers patients future treatment options. We believe that this model can make an accurate diagnosis of treatment failure in most patients. However, operational research is needed to assess whether this strategy works in practice.
AB - Monitoring the efficacy of antiretroviral treatment in developing countries is difficult because these countries have few laboratory facilities to test viral load and drug resistance. Those that exist are faced with a shortage of trained staff, unreliable electricity supply, and costly reagents. Not only that, but most HIV patients in resource-poor countries do not have access to such testing. We propose a new model for monitoring antiretroviral treatment in resource-limited settings that uses patients' clinical and treatment history, adherence to treatment, and laboratory indices such as haemoglobin level and total lymphocyte count to identify virological treatment failure, and offers patients future treatment options. We believe that this model can make an accurate diagnosis of treatment failure in most patients. However, operational research is needed to assess whether this strategy works in practice.
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U2 - 10.1016/S1473-3099(05)70327-3
DO - 10.1016/S1473-3099(05)70327-3
M3 - Comment/debate
C2 - 16377535
AN - SCOPUS:29244432755
SN - 1473-3099
VL - 6
SP - 53
EP - 59
JO - Lancet Infectious Diseases
JF - Lancet Infectious Diseases
IS - 1
ER -