Identifying and testing children living with HIV

Identifying and testing children living with HIV

Providing treatment for children with HIV/AIDS essentially involves three stages: finding a child, testing a child and treating a child. Most children living with HIV become infected through mother-to-child transmission, and these children need to be tested as soon as possible after birth to find out if they are infected with the virus. If a child living with HIV is only diagnosed once they are ill, it may be too late for antiretroviral treatment to be effective.

Collection of dried blood spots from an infant

In high-income countries, children can be tested soon after birth using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and other specialist techniques.¹⁰ Where this technology is available, the longest a mother will have to wait for an accurate result is usually around six weeks.

In resource-poor countries, where PCR testing is generally unaffordable or unavailable, a mother may have to wait up to 18 months after giving birth before antibody tests (which are used in adults, and are more commonly available) can be used to accurately diagnose her child.

In some resource-poor countries, ‘dried blood spot’ testing has been introduced. This is where a small sample of blood is taken from a child, dropped onto paper, and sent to a laboratory where it can be tested. Since these samples do not need to be refrigerated and are easy to transport, they can potentially be sent miles away to places where PCR is available. This means that even children living in resource-poor areas can be tested relatively quickly. However, dried blood spot testing can be expensive and it can take a long time for test results to return. There is also evidence that when the drug nevirapine is used to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, dried blood spot testing doesn't always detect HIV in the first few days of the child's life.^{11 12}