Tests

Genotype tests get final Budget approval

Graham Stocks — Wed, 25 May 2011 23:02:37 -0700

Good news from this year’s Budget is the decision to list the HIV genotype test as a funded Medicare item.

Approval of the test, which measures drug resistanceHIV which has mutated and is less susceptible to the effects of one or more anti-HIV drugs is said to be resistant., has been promoted long and hard by both community and clinicalPertaining to or founded on observation and treatment of participants, as distinguished from theoretical or basic science. groups as a vital tool in Australia’s HIV treatment arsenal.

What's Your Problem?

Graham Stocks — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:05:36 -0700

Doctor Louise answers readers' questions. In this issue she discusses blood tests and gastric reflux.

Healthy T-cells help keep cancers at bay

Graham Stocks — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:15:00 -0800

Maintaining a CD4 cell count above 500 helps protect you from a range of AIDS-defining and non-AIDS-defining cancers, French investigators report.

Researchers followed over 50,000 positive people between 1998 and 2006 and found that the seven* most common cancers were found least in those whose counts stayed consistently above 500.

Aussie eye scanner detects HIV

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:19:46 -0700

A WA-developed eye scanner that can detect HIV could become a major screening tool in resourcepoor countries.

The Lions Eye Institute director of the Centre for e-Medicine, Yogesan Kanagasingam, is working with international colleagues to isolate a distinctive pattern of changes in eye tissue, including the blood vessels in the retina, that occur in people with HIV.

Treatments news from the IAS Conference

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:52:42 -0700

A roundup of HIV treatments developments from the IAS Conference in Cape Town.

Resistance

Graham Stocks — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:22:52 -0700

Every time HIV reproduces itself there’s a high chance that it may ‘mutate’ slightly. A ‘mutation’ is a small alteration in the genetic makeup. These alterations may make the virusA small infective organism which is incapable of reproducing outside a host cell. more resistantHIV which has mutated and is less susceptible to the effects of one or more anti-HIV drugs is said to be resistant. to an individual drug or potentially a class of drug.The more the virus is reproducing (i.e. the higher the viral loadA measurement of the quantity of HIV RNA in the blood. Viral load blood test results are expressed as the number of copies (of HIV) per milliliter of blood plasma.) the more chances there are of mutations occurring.

Treatment news from CROI

Paul Kidd — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:35:40 -0700

John Daye reports on treatments developments from the 16th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Montréal, Canada.

CD4 (T-cell) counts

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 17:31:03 -0800

This is a blood test, which can tell how many CD4 cells (also called T- cells) you have. A person with a healthy immune system can have between 500 and over a thousand of these important white blood cells per millilitre of blood.

Viral load tests

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 17:28:45 -0800

HIV multiplies – by ‘copying’ itself – within your body. Viral loadA measurement of the quantity of HIV RNA in the blood. Viral load blood test results are expressed as the number of copies (of HIV) per milliliter of blood plasma. refers to the amount of HIV in your blood at any given time. You can also measure viral load in other body fluids like vaginal fluids, but this is only available in a research setting. Routine viral load tests look at how much virusA small infective organism which is incapable of reproducing outside a host cell. is in your blood.

Looking after your health: Viral load and CD4 count

Paul Kidd — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 06:00:00 -0800

People with HIV can benefit from regular tests designed to monitor how their immune system is coping.