India acquires tools to detect AIDS among kids

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India acquires tools to detect AIDS among kids

Kounteya Sinha: [Monday, May 08, 2006 11:33:22 pm TIMES NEWS

NETWORK ]

NEW DELHI: India is procuring 19 Qualitative Polymerase Chain

Reaction machines (PCR), the only diagnostic tool in the world that

accurately detects the presence of HIV in children aged below 13.

Costing the National Aids Control Organisation nearly Rs 2 crore,

the machines will be installed in medical colleges of six high

prevalent states - Maharashtra, Karnataka, AP, Tamil Nadu, Manipur

and Nagaland.

Till now, paediatricians in India, on detection of anti-HIV

antibodies in children below 18 months, could never tell for sure

whether they were already infected or whether the antibodies were

being transferred from their mother.

Therefore, doctors couldn't even start the Anti-Retroviral

Treatment - the only effective way to treat HIV - on them. This,

according to NACO, led to 33,000 new infants getting the infection

every year from their HIV positive mothers.

According to Unicef's senior programme advisor on HIV, Chewe Luo,

50% of these children died within two years of birth while 80% of

them died within five years of birth. NACO is also ready with the

country's first national treatment protocol for paediatric HIV

cases.

Prepared along with the Indian Association of Paediatricians, the

guidelines will tell all doctors everything they want to know about

treating HIV positive children - what should be the dosage of ART,

when should they start and how much to give.

Without this protocol in place, doctors earlier administered an

overdose or underdose of ART on infected children, leading to more

harm.

Speaking to TOI, NACO DG K Sujatha Rao said: " Till now, like on

adults, we used the antibody test to see if a child is infected. But

this test could not clearly demarcate whether the anti-HIV

antibodies are his or his mother's.

This way, we didn't even know whether to follow up on the child. The

PCR will now say with certainly whether a child is infected or not. "

She added: " Now that we have national treatment protocol for

children in place, cleared by WHO, we will start ART treatment on

10,000 children initially.

The treatment will cost NACO Rs 8,000 per child. The protocol will

help us motivate pharma companies to produce ART drugs with specific

formulations. "

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1521399.cms