A Stable Dried Tube Specimen for Quality Assurance and Training Programs for HIV Rapid Test for Recent Infection
ABSTRACT The HIV epidemic is still one of the world’s most serious public health challenges, affecting about 38 million people worldwide, especially in sub-Saharan African and Southeast Asian countries. In recent years, tests have been developed to discriminate recent from long-term infection in HIV...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Society for Microbiology
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Microbiology Spectrum |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/spectrum.03398-22 |
| _version_ | 1811164386052538368 |
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| author | Clara Di Germanio Ernest L. Yufenyuy Dylan C. Hampton Chloe Thorbrogger Bharat S. Parekh Philip J. Norris |
| author_facet | Clara Di Germanio Ernest L. Yufenyuy Dylan C. Hampton Chloe Thorbrogger Bharat S. Parekh Philip J. Norris |
| author_sort | Clara Di Germanio |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT The HIV epidemic is still one of the world’s most serious public health challenges, affecting about 38 million people worldwide, especially in sub-Saharan African and Southeast Asian countries. In recent years, tests have been developed to discriminate recent from long-term infection in HIV-infected populations, and these tools can help identify new outbreaks and networks of transmission and target prevention and treatment plans. New rapid tests for recent infection are being deployed in point-of-care settings; however, quality assurance programs need to be implemented to ensure consistency and reliability of the results. We have developed a dried tube specimen (DTS) stabilized with disaccharide trehalose as a quality control reagent for rapid recency testing that can be stored unrefrigerated prior to reconstitution at temperatures up to 37°C for up to 12 weeks. Analysis of 10 trehalose-stabilized DTSs showed that they maintained the same recency classification in all of the samples stored at 4°C and 37°C up to 12 weeks and at 56°C for 2 weeks, while the DTSs prepared without trehalose changed their classification from long-term to recent or recent to negative after storage at 37°C for 12 weeks. Development of DTS quality control reagents will facilitate proficiency and training programs, particularly in settings without cold chain capability in field environments. IMPORTANCE Implementation of stabilized dried tube specimens (DTSs) for quality control and training would facilitate HIV recency programs, especially in point-of-care settings without cold chain availability. This study shows that addition of the disaccharide trehalose to DTSs prior to drying the samples increased stability of the samples across a range of temperatures. This finding provides an affordable way to increase the availability of these key reagents for quality control in resource-constrained settings. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T15:20:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a269bf9d3b7f4ecf886390dd1efb409a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2165-0497 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T15:20:41Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | American Society for Microbiology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Microbiology Spectrum |
| spelling | doaj.art-a269bf9d3b7f4ecf886390dd1efb409a2023-02-14T14:15:51ZengAmerican Society for MicrobiologyMicrobiology Spectrum2165-04972023-02-0111110.1128/spectrum.03398-22A Stable Dried Tube Specimen for Quality Assurance and Training Programs for HIV Rapid Test for Recent InfectionClara Di Germanio0Ernest L. Yufenyuy1Dylan C. Hampton2Chloe Thorbrogger3Bharat S. Parekh4Philip J. Norris5Vitalant Research Institute, San Francisco, California, USADivision of Global HIV and TB, Center for Global Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USAVitalant Research Institute, San Francisco, California, USAVitalant Research Institute, San Francisco, California, USADivision of Global HIV and TB, Center for Global Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USAVitalant Research Institute, San Francisco, California, USAABSTRACT The HIV epidemic is still one of the world’s most serious public health challenges, affecting about 38 million people worldwide, especially in sub-Saharan African and Southeast Asian countries. In recent years, tests have been developed to discriminate recent from long-term infection in HIV-infected populations, and these tools can help identify new outbreaks and networks of transmission and target prevention and treatment plans. New rapid tests for recent infection are being deployed in point-of-care settings; however, quality assurance programs need to be implemented to ensure consistency and reliability of the results. We have developed a dried tube specimen (DTS) stabilized with disaccharide trehalose as a quality control reagent for rapid recency testing that can be stored unrefrigerated prior to reconstitution at temperatures up to 37°C for up to 12 weeks. Analysis of 10 trehalose-stabilized DTSs showed that they maintained the same recency classification in all of the samples stored at 4°C and 37°C up to 12 weeks and at 56°C for 2 weeks, while the DTSs prepared without trehalose changed their classification from long-term to recent or recent to negative after storage at 37°C for 12 weeks. Development of DTS quality control reagents will facilitate proficiency and training programs, particularly in settings without cold chain capability in field environments. IMPORTANCE Implementation of stabilized dried tube specimens (DTSs) for quality control and training would facilitate HIV recency programs, especially in point-of-care settings without cold chain availability. This study shows that addition of the disaccharide trehalose to DTSs prior to drying the samples increased stability of the samples across a range of temperatures. This finding provides an affordable way to increase the availability of these key reagents for quality control in resource-constrained settings.https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/spectrum.03398-22HIV rapid testHIV recency infectionhuman immunodeficiency virus |
| spellingShingle | Clara Di Germanio Ernest L. Yufenyuy Dylan C. Hampton Chloe Thorbrogger Bharat S. Parekh Philip J. Norris A Stable Dried Tube Specimen for Quality Assurance and Training Programs for HIV Rapid Test for Recent Infection Microbiology Spectrum HIV rapid test HIV recency infection human immunodeficiency virus |
| title | A Stable Dried Tube Specimen for Quality Assurance and Training Programs for HIV Rapid Test for Recent Infection |
| title_full | A Stable Dried Tube Specimen for Quality Assurance and Training Programs for HIV Rapid Test for Recent Infection |
| title_fullStr | A Stable Dried Tube Specimen for Quality Assurance and Training Programs for HIV Rapid Test for Recent Infection |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Stable Dried Tube Specimen for Quality Assurance and Training Programs for HIV Rapid Test for Recent Infection |
| title_short | A Stable Dried Tube Specimen for Quality Assurance and Training Programs for HIV Rapid Test for Recent Infection |
| title_sort | stable dried tube specimen for quality assurance and training programs for hiv rapid test for recent infection |
| topic | HIV rapid test HIV recency infection human immunodeficiency virus |
| url | https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/spectrum.03398-22 |
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