Thai's New 15baht Hiv Test

[Buff-horns]

Siriraj Hospital's inexpensive HIV test kit wins praise

Published on Jul 13 , 2005

A new HIV-test kit under development by Siriraj Hospital appears highly promising, according to Assoc Professor Sakchai Dettrairat of Chiang Mai University's Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences.

The test kit, once fully functional, is expected to provide an alternative to imported products, which cost at least three times as much and are less specific to the subtype of the HIV virus common in Thailand, he said at the 10th National Seminar on Aids yesterday.

The three-day conference is being held July 13-15 in Bangkok and drew about 3,000 participants, mostly HIV/Aids experts.

Almost all imported test kits are designed for the detection of the HIV 1 subtype B virus, whereas the most common strain in Thailand is subtype E, explained Assoc Professor Viraphong Lulitanond of Khon Kaen University's Department of Microbiology.

The test kit being developed by Siriraj Hospital has been tested with the HIV 1 subtype E virus, which was isolated locally,

Sakchai said. He went on to say that the new prototype test kit has a 99.6 per cent sensitivity mark, which is higher than the standard 99.5, set by the World Health Organisation. The kit's specificity is also remarkably high at 98 per cent, he added.

Presently, the Thai-developed kit costs only Bt15 per a test, whereas the cheapest comparable imports retail at around Bt50 per unit, Sakchai said.

The team of researchers at Siriraj Hospital is trying hard to maximise the prototype test kit's sensitivity. Once that is done, the team will apply for approval from the Food and Drug Administration before mass-producing the kit.

Prof Kovit Patanapanyasataya of Siriraj's Faculty of Medicine said researchers were also developing a cheaper version of the substance used in white-blood count tests for HIV/Aids patients. When produced in quantity, the local version will cost a fifth of the least expensive import, he said.

The Public Health Ministry estimates that Thailand spends around Bt100 million a year on importing the substance required for testing the CD4 white blood count necessary for treating HIV/Aids patients.

Although the country can develop a cheaper testing technique for HIV/Aids, the government will still need to pay for some expensive kits, such as the HIV tests required for blood donations, Viraphong said.

Arthit Khwankhom

The Nation

[charles]

The test kit, once fully functional, is expected to provide an alternative to imported products, which cost at least three times as much and are less specific to the subtype of the HIV virus common in Thailand,

That seems to imply to the lay reader that current tests used in Thailand may NOT detect the HIV subtype most common in Thailand! Surely not?

Suspect it could be sloppy journalism/editing, perhaps relating to "specific" v. "sensitive" in this context, easy to cause reader confusion.

Edited July 14, 2005 by charles