Dual HIV/ Syphilis POC Tests: Their Importance in Low to Middle Income Countries
Sexually transmitted infection (STI) cases across the world are an ever present and ever-increasing issue, not only to adults but to a foetus. Two diseases of particular importance are HIV and Syphilis (caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum). How big a threat are STIs in today’s world? The most recent figures show that in the US, Syphilis cases have tripled between 2013 and 2018 , which includes 5,726 pregnant women. Between 2008...
Toxoplasma IgM – not a smoking gun for acute infection
Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite present in a third of the world’s human population. People acquire this infection in three ways: i) inadequately cooked infected meat, particularly pork, ii) unwitting ingestion of oocysts passed in cat feces, which could, for example, occur whilst gardening, and iii) pregnant women passing the infection transplacentally to their unborn fetus – known as Congenital Toxoplasmosis. In most cases the infection is asymptomatic or presents...
HIV – a challenging disease to diagnose
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has a reputation for being difficult to treat, although advances in medicine have reached a level where those being treated can be expected to live almost to their full life span. However, as we shall see in this article, current HIV testing is not perfect and many challenges remain. There are multiple HIV viruses HIV is actually a small family of distinct viruses comprised of HIV1 and HIV2....
