Impact of Birth HIV-PCR Testing on the Uptake of Follow-up Early Infant Diagnosis Services in Cape Town, South Africa

摘要

Introduction: Polymerase chain reaction testing at birth (birth-testing) is suggested by new World Health Organization guidelines for rapid diagnosis of infants infected with HIV in utero. However, there are few data on the implementation of this approach in sub-Saharan Africa, and whether birth testing affects uptake of subsequent routine early infant diagnosis (EID) testing at 6-10 weeks of age is unknown.