NEWS: Calypte Reports Positive Results of Aware(TM) HIV-1/2 Oral Fluid Rapid Test
Evaluation at 3rd Annual South African AIDS Conference
LAKE OSWEGO, Ore., July 16, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Calypte
Biomedical Corporation (CBMC), medical diagnostic tests manufacturer for the
rapid detection of antibodies to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) announced
today the results and positive social implications of a field evaluation of its
Aware(TM) HIV-1/2 OMT (oral fluid) rapid test in the Republic of South Africa .
These results were recently presented in a poster at the 3rd South African AIDS
Conference in Durban last month. Posters are scientific research papers (in
poster presentation form) accepted by a conference for the education of its
attendees, typically displayed in a Poster Section on the conference floor.
The field evaluation was conducted on 600 clients of unknown HIV status at two
busy Voluntary Counseling and Testing ("VCT") clinics in South Africa. The
expected HIV prevalence rate was 30-40%; overall, 44% of the clients tested
positive. The poster reported that "the results obtained on OMT were comparable
with results on serum, and were statistically significant."
Study nurses responsible for the collection of samples described OMT (oral fluid
test) collection as "easy to do", and preferred the non-invasive oral fluid
collection method to the blood collection currently in use. Laboratory personnel
found the test procedure simple to perform and results easy to interpret. "This
assay may be a suitable alternative for VCT practices," was the poster's
conclusion.
Roger Gale, Calypte's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We have long
known the accuracy of the Aware(TM) HIV-1/2 oral fluid rapid test. The usage
studies that are now being reported are focusing on the social aspects of such a
test and we are pleased that there is strong sentiment for adopting oral fluid
testing. While changing long-established blood collection practice to the OMT
method is a process, we believe we are gaining momentum in making oral fluid an
acceptable alternative to blood testing. The recent approval of our oral fluid
test in India and the subsequent interest we are seeing from the government,
military and private sectors is very encouraging in this regard."
Johannes Viljoen, MBChB, FC Path (SA) Viro, at the College of Health Sciences of
the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa and principal investigator
presenting this poster noted, "We specialize with individuals living in rural
settings of South Africa. In South Africa there are ongoing public health and
media campaigns to increase public awareness and uptake of HIV testing in an
attempt to curb the spread of the epidemic. We anticipate that offering a
non-invasive rapid test may quite possibly result in an enhanced uptake of
testing, mostly as a result of it being more acceptable and painless, even more
so for children. In our study, the technique was clearly preferred over
finger-sticks by the health care providers."
Dr. Pravi Moodley, Acting Head of the Department of Virology at the University of
KwaZulu-Natal and National Health Laboratory Service, Durban, South Africa and a
co-author of the poster commented, "The sampling of oral fluid for HIV antibody
rapid testing in resource constrained settings has advantages over the
conventional finger-prick blood which is currently used for HIV antibody rapid
testing. The obtaining of an oral fluid sample is much simpler since a community
health worker requiring minimal training will be able to obtain the sample. It is
also much safer since no sharps and sharps containers are necessary, obviating
the need for intensive health and safety training which may unnecessarily consume
financial and human resources in already resource constrained settings."
Further, our field evaluation of Calypte's Aware(TM) HIV-1/2 OMT Rapid Test
showed excellent correlation with blood samples," concluded Dr. Moodley.
