Rapid testing is recognised as an increasingly important weapon in the fight to bring HIV/Aids under control in South Africa and other high disease burden countries. Whilst performance of most rapid HIV tests in the laboratory is very good, the use of complicated HIV test kits under real world conditions typically results in a significant reduction in the accuracy of HIV testing in the field.
A large South African study proved that the actual sensitivity of HIV test kits used outside of the laboratory was on average 93.5% and even with additional training and quality control improvement increased to only 95.1%. Across Africa, this potentially results in several hundred thousand people being misdiagnosed with HIV every year. Understandably, the effect of misdiagnosing a person who is HIV positive can be devastating and invariably results in increased transmission.
John Kelly, the CEO and founder of Atomo Diagnostics says, "AtomoRapid was developed to provide a better way to perform rapid testing. Through collaborative commercialisation of this product, we are enabling both healthcare professionals and patients to trust the accuracy of their HIV test result."
AtomoRapid HIV aims to replace complicated test kits and is said to be much simpler to perform as it removes the need for manual steps requiring extensive skill and clinical training. This removes the source of many errors common with current generation test kit based procedures.
The kit uses a proven HIV test strip that has been WHO Pre-qualified and sold in the market for many years. Atomo now delivers this test in the field as a next generation solution specifically designed to meet users' needs and reduce misdiagnosis.
"The Atomo team has been working hard towards making AtomoRapid HIV available to the market and the response we have received so far has been fantastic - we now look forward to collaborating with leading organisations to change the Rapid HIV testing landscape," says Kelly who presented during the 6th SA Aids Conference.
AtomoRapid HIV will be available to customers in the coming months. Interested parties may contact Atomo Diagnostics at www.atomodiagnostics.com or moc.scitsongaidomota@ofni.
