The Fastest and Cheapest HIV/AIDS Test

AIDS is rampant in developing countries, especially in South-Saharan Africa. Here, in many of areas, electricity is unreliable or nonexistent, water quality is disastrous, and there are few, if any, physicians.

Now Antje J. Baeumner, a Cornell associate professor of biological and environmental engineering is on the way to develop a quick, simple and cheap immune-system test for HIV infection for people living in the poorest areas affected by the malady.

Getting early appropriate treatment could extend the lives of these people by as much as 10 - 15 years.

The 4 years study will receive annually $386,000 from the consortium CD4 Initiative (led by Imperial College in London and funded by the Bill Gates Foundation) and its main goal is finding a simple way to measure the critical HIV/AIDS immune system factors: CD4 T-cell count (CD4+ T-lymphocytes) count in the blood. "When patients are infected with HIV/AIDS, the number of circulating CD4 T-cells drops significantly," explained Baeumner.

"If they get the appropriate retroviral treatment, their life span can be increased by many years. CD4 counts assist in the decisions on when to initiate and when to stop the treatment, which makes this test so important. While such testing is routine in Western countries -- and used repeatedly over the course of treatment to see if interventions are effective -- it's unavailable to many people in the developing world, especially in rural areas."

For two years, Baeumner will focus on finding a test for CD4+ T-lymphocytes in the blood, similar to a pregnancy test, employing biosensor nanovesicles (microscopic, fluid-filled pouches constituted by phospholipids that can deliver drugs) to intensify the signal.

There are also other organizations that are developing researches in the same field so that the best possible method can be delivered as soon as possible. "Currently, most people in the world, such as those in Third World countries, infected with HIV have no access to detection technology," explained Baeumner. "This test, however, is being developed to endure harsh temperature conditions and be truly simple -- no batteries will be needed, for example."