HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that attacks cells that help the body fight infection, making a person more vulnerable to other infections and diseases. If remain untreated, HIV can lead to the disease AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). The human body can’t get rid of HIV and no effective HIV cure exists. So, once person have HIV, person have it for life-time.
HIV infection can be transmitted by sexual contact, exposure to infected blood or blood products, or by an infected mother to the fetus. Within three to six weeks of exposure to HIV, infected individuals generally develop a brief, acute syndrome characterized by flu-like symptoms and associated with high levels of viremia in the peripheral blood. In most infected individuals this is followed by an HIV-specific immune response and a decline of plasma viremia, usually within four to six weeks of the onset of symptoms. After seroconversion, infected individuals typically enter a clinically stable, asymptomatic phase that can last for years.
he real-time based HIV-1 qualitative detection or Proviral DNA assays are intended for use as a screening test for the presence of HIV-1 in blood or blood products or as a diagnostic test to confirm the presence of HIV-1 infection.
The geneOmbio have NABL accreditation for HIV-1 Quantitation assay. The Roche COBAS TaqMan HIV-1 assay is an in vitro nucleic acid amplification test for the quantitation of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1) RNA in human plasma using the COBAS AmpliPrep Instrument for automated specimen processing and COBAS TaqMan Analyzer for automated amplification and detection. This test is aim for use in conjunction with clinical presentation and other laboratory markers of disease progress for the clinical management of HIV-1 infected patients.
The Test can be used to assess patient prognosis by measuring the baseline HIV-1 RNA level or to monitor the effects of antiretroviral therapy by measuring changes in EDTA plasma HIV-1 RNA levels during the course of antiretroviral treatment. The geneOmbio also have wide range of HIV-1 genotyping and Drug resistance analysis assays.