The US has cleared a new HIV test that can not only find out if someone is positive but also measure their viral load. The viral load – the amount of the virus in the body – is hugely important for doctors to determine the best treatment for new patients.
HIV can’t be cured. But effective treatment can reduce the viral load so far that you can’t pass the virus on to anyone else.
As a result, frequent testing and rapid treatment have played a huge role in reducing HIV transmissions in recent years. Now medical research company Hologic’s Aptima HIV-1 Quant Dx test has provided a fresh breakthrough.
By diagnosing HIV and giving a viral load measurement at the same time, it can help patients get on treatment even faster. Until now, patients who