Molbio Diagnostics announced that it has launched a new test for differential diagnosis of HIV 1 and HIV 2 with viral loads within 60 minutes. The test works on the existing Truelab infrastructure and will require no additional set-ups and equipment, the company claims.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has been one of the most challenging infectious diseases across the world since its discovery in 1959. According to the UNAIDS report 2020, globally, approximately 37.7 million people are living with HIV, of which about 2.3 million infections were recorded in India.
HIV attacks the body’s immune system causing the infected person to become more susceptible to other infections and diseases. Of the two types of HIV, HIV-1 is the most common type, whereas HIV-2 is uncommon and less infectious.
“HIV continues to be a major public health concern impacting people and economies. Since the disease is not curable, screening and early testing are critical to stop the spread of HIV. At the same time WHO has mandated that patients on treatment must be monitored only by viral load testing. Being a point of care platform Truenat HIV 1/ HIV 2 will provide universal access to both early detection and viral load estimation,” Sriram Natarajan, CEO, Founder and Director, Molbio Diagnostics, said in a statement.
HIV is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids that contain the virus, such as blood, sexual fluids, sharing needles with an HIV-infected person etc. Though both types of HIV can weaken the immune system, HIV type 2 tends to progress slowly and presents a lower transmission rate than HIV type 1.
“For any disease, early detection is always the key to stop its spread. HIV was first identified more than 50 years ago, and we don’t have a cure yet. So testing is the first step to preventing the further spread of the disease. We needed an effective means of testing at point-of-care, which is cost-effective and has a short sample-to-result time. We’ve achieved that with Truenat.Truenat HIV1/HIV2 can provide test results in an hour, assuring early and accurate diagnosis of the infection,” Dr. Chandrasekhar Nair, CTO and Director, Molbio Diagnostics, stated on Wednesday.
According to the diagnostic firm, Truenat is a point-of-care portable, battery-operated, IoT-enabled, Real-Time PCR platform with a sample-to-result time of less than 1 hour. The company claims that the platform can test over 35 diseases, including COVID-19, TB, Hepatitis, HIV, HPV, Dengue, Malaria, etc.
