Hiv Antibody Testing

This book gives a comprehensive overview of HIV and AIDS including NeuroAIDS, as well as general concepts of pathology, immunity and immunopathology, diagnosis, treatment, epidemiology and etiology to current clinical recommendations in management of HIV/AIDS including NeuroAIDS, highlighting the ongoing issues, recent advances and future directions in diagnostic approaches and therapeutic strategies.

During the early years of the AIDS epidemic, thousands of Americans became infected with HIV through the nation's blood supply. Because little reliable information existed at the time AIDS first began showing up in hemophiliacs and in others who had received transfusions, experts disagreed about whether blood and blood products could transmit the disease. During this period of great uncertainty, decision-making regarding the blood supply became increasingly difficult and fraught with risk. This volume provides a balanced inquiry into the blood safety controversy, which involves private sexual practices, personal tragedy for the victims of HIV/AIDS, and public confidence in America's blood services system. The book focuses on critical decisions as information about the danger to the blood supply emerged. The committee draws conclusions about what was doneâ€"and recommends what should be done to produce better outcomes in the face of future threats to blood safety. The committee frames its analysis around four critical area: Product treatmentâ€"Could effective methods for inactivating HIV in blood have been introduced sooner? Donor screening and referralâ€"including a review of screening to exlude high-risk individuals. Regulations and recall of contaminated bloodâ€"analyzing decisions by federal agencies and the private sector. Risk communicationâ€"examining whether infections could have been averted by better communication of the risks.

During the two years since the publication of the first edition of this book, the global spread of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) has continued. HIV was estimated by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1993 to have at least 13 million individuals worldwide, with 1 million infected infected in the United States. HIV/AIDS in the United States has become the leading cause of death among men 25 to 44 years of age and the fifth leading cause of death among women of the same age group. Prevention of HIV infection remains a global challenge. Testing for HIV is the cornerstone for surveillance and prevention programs and for the provision of appropriate medical care for those who are infected. Such testing is equally essential to the search for effective antivirus drugs and vaccines. This second edition of AIDS Testing incorporates the most current thinking on test methodology and interpretation, some of which has changed considerably over the past two years. This edition also has been expanded to include a section consisting of six chapters on test applica tions and a section consisting of four chapters on management issues. This edition, like the first, describes in clear terms all the complex ele ments of testing, including applications, scientific principles, quality assurance, safety, and medical, ethical, and legal considerations.

THE PIONEERING WORK IN HIV MEDICINE, COMPLETELY REVISED FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2012 The 17th edition of Bartlett's Medical Management of HIV Infection offers the best-available clinical guidance for treatment of patients with HIV. Edited by preeminent and pioneering authorities in HIV research and clinical care, it has earned its status as the definitive work for physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and anyone working in the care of persons with HIV. Updated to reflect the most recent innovations in HIV prevention and therapy, this text balances new and old approaches to produce a guide to clinical management in any setting. Coverage includes: · New approaches to prevention of HIV and prevention of infection in patients with HIV · Laboratory protocols for screening and treatment · Antiretroviral therapies (including dosage and adverse effects and drug interactions ) · HIV treatment in resource-limited settings · Management of infections A portable, navigable guide to an exquisitely complex field, Bartlett's Medical Management of HIV Infection is the continuing standard for practice and education in the field of HIV.

Excerpt from Pooled Testing for Hiv Screening: Capturing the Dilution Effect In the first years of the aids epidemic, numerous instances of aids infection caused by blood transfusion were reported to the Center for Disease Control. The incidence indi cated that the blood supply is a virtually frictionless pathway for spreading the epidemic, and the extent of the epidemic dictated that screening at the individual level should be adopted. As a consequence, all infected blood donors would be identified and a measurably safer blood supply would be attained. Nevertheless, the cost for such a screening program is substantial, and many developing countries, particularly in Africa where the epidemic is spreading rapidly, are struggling to fight the disease on limited budgets. Pooled testing is one potential way to reduce the monetary cost without compromising the accuracy of the tests. The rationale behind pooled testing is simple and intuitive: suppose we can pool the sera from ten (for example) individuals and test the pool using a single test. If the seroprevalence of hiv, which is the fraction of the population that is infected, is low enough, then there is a high probability that all ten individuals in the pool are hiv negative; in this case, we would learn from a single test what otherwise would be learned from ten individual tests. If, on the other hand, the test outcome is positive, then additional tests (either pooled or individual) would need to be carried out. However, pooled testing has a possible shortcoming, the dilution efiect: there is a serious concern that if the pool size is too large, then any hiv positive sera will be sufficiently diluted so as to become undetectable by the test. These false negatives can be extremely costly, particularly when pooled testing is employed to protect the blood supply. Moreover, infected individuals exhibiting an unusually low level of antibody concentration are less likely to be detected when screened in pools. Consequently, the sensitivity of the test can be seriously affected. (sensitivity is the probability of detecting a diseased individual, whereas specificity is the probability of detecting a healthy individual.) About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.