![]() CD4 count, one of the HIV tests for monitoring treatment.Ĭhanges in CD4 cell count are helpful in showing the level of damage to the immune system and the extent of improvement in drug therapy being administered. It may also be free if you are registered on PEPFER. The cost of viral load is around N5,000 to N8,000 naira. If your are in Lagos, you can have your HIV viral load test done at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) in Yaba. HIV viral load can be done in big labs like Pathcare, Synlab, Union Diagnostics and in Teaching Hospitals across the federation. READ ALSO: When is somebody declared to be HIV positive? However, a reduction to somewhere between 400 to 5,000 copies will nevertheless have a very good long- term clinical benefit. It is currently recommended that viral load should be reduced to below 50 copies for ideal outcome of treatment. The length of time that the viral load is kept below 5,000 copies on treatment is clearly related to the length of time for which the disease progression can be delayed. If the viral load goes up and stays up, this is worse than it goes up and then goes down.Ĭhanges in viral load after starting treatment with antiretroviral drugs are the best predicator of whether or not treatment will delay the development of AIDS. Since viral load can go up briefly when someone has infection, or had just been vaccinated, single viral load results do not matter as much as the trend in the viral load results. The HIV viral load test is used to detect the changes in the amount of HIV in blood. Viral loadĪlso known as DNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR), viral load assays, PCR test or bDNA test. The cost of Western Blot test is about N10,000 in advanced laboratories like Pathcare, Raytouch or SynLab. Antibodies to only a selection of viral proteins may yield an indeterminate Western blot. This test is used as a confirmatory test. With this test, positive result needs to be confirmed by Western Blot or different ELISA test. It is a very sensitive test, but not very specific. ELISA tests for a number of antibody proteins in combination. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) If the test is negative, there is no need for a second test and you are recorded as negative. Rapid test is the commonest of the HIV testsįor any positive results, confirmation is required, perhaps, using a second rapid test, for antibodies to another part of the virus and the patient is reported as positive.This HIV test kit price/cost is about N3000 to N5,000 naira and it is available on big pharmacy stores and online supermarkets like Jumia, Konga, Amazon, Alibaba and Ajebo. There is a do-it-yourself HIV test kit for people who value their privacy. The rapid test for HIV is free in public hospitals but between N1,000 to N2,000 naira in private hospitals. It has a sensitivity of 100 percent and a specificity greater than 99%. The rapid diagnostic test provides results between 10 to 15 minutes. It is the test done in most private hospital for HIV. The rapid test is useful in situations where immediate results are important to manage decisions. In order to test positive, the person would need to have been infected long enough to develop antibodies (usually 6 weeks to 6 months) 1. HIV antibody tests detect antibodies formed by the immune system against HIV. It is important that all suspected cases of HIV/AIDS should be referred to the hospital or counselling and testing centres for confirmation of diagnosis. Some of the the different tests that may be carried out to determine whether somebody is HIV positive or not are discussed below. None of the above but you just want to know your status.You have got a tattoo in a shop in which you have doubts about the instruments.You are starting a new job especially for health workers.About to get married (compulsory HIV testing as recommended). ![]()
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