UWC team slashes cost of drug test
A group of scientists at the University of the Western Cape has developed a more affordable test for drug-resistance to antiretroviral therapy in people with HIV. Simon Travers, a researcher at the university's South African National Bioinformatics Institute, said: "International best practice says that everyone should be tested prior to starting treatment."But this is not the case in South Africa."He said not testing resistance to therapy reduces chances of successful treatment but that routine testing "would be too expensive given current resistance testing approaches".There are 2.4 million people in South Africa on antiretroviral therapy and the cost of the current test is R5000.Travers' team has developed a web-based application called Seq2Res which makes the analysis of the sequence data - which provides evidence of resistance - much simpler.This would bring the cost down to R500.Joe Maila, spokesman for the Department of Health, said drug resistance testing is currently only done on patients who fail first or second line antiretroviral treatment. ..
There’s never been a more important time to support independent media.
From World War 1 to present-day cosmopolitan South Africa and beyond, the Sunday Times has been a pillar in covering the stories that matter to you.
For just R80 you can become a premium member (digital access) and support a publication that has played an important political and social role in South Africa for over a century of Sundays. You can cancel anytime.
Already subscribed? Sign in below.
Questions or problems? Email helpdesk@timeslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00.