Menu
Menu
December 1 is World AIDS Day and this year’s slogan is LET COMMUNITIES LEAD. It’s a call to action to support communities in their leadership roles to enable the end of AIDS.
The acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is caused by the infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In 2022 an estimated 39.0 million people were living with HIV, 1.3 million people became newly infected with HIV and about 630,000 people died from an AIDS-related illness. Of the two species of HIV described – HIV type 1 (HIV-1) and HIV type 2 (HIV-2) – HIV-1 is the most common. HIV is mainly transmitted to the exchange of body fluids. It can take several years from an HIV infection to the progression of AIDS.
An HIV infection cannot be cured and in the early 80s an infection with HIV was sooner or later leading to AIDS and an early death. Today, viral replication can be suppressed by antiretroviral therapy (ART) allowing a normal life for HIV infected patients. An early diagnosis is important for the prompt treatment and the prevention of new infections.
Receiving ART extensively reduces the HIV amount and patients undergoing this treatment for a long term are not infectious anymore. Nevertheless, the virus is still present in the body and treatment must be continued a whole life. Therefore, the viral load of patients receiving ART must be determined constantly to ensure suppression of viral replication and confirm the success of the treatment.
With the AltoStar® HIV RT-PCR Kit 1.5, altona Diagnostics provides a CE-marked in vitro diagnostic test based on real-time RT-PCR technology to detect and quantify the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) specific RNA (groups M, N and O) in human EDTA plasma. It is intended to be used for viral load monitoring in HIV infection. The AltoStar® HIV RT-PCR Kit 1.5 is a dual target assay with amplification of separate regions of HIV-1 genome. It is designed for use with the AltoStar® Molecular Diagnostic Workflow, which offers enhanced flexibility in sample-to-PCR management.
altona Diagnostics GmbH
Mörkenstr. 12
22767 Hamburg, Germany