Alternative Immune Monitoring Test for People Living with HIV/AIDS

Alternative Immune Monitoring Test for People Living with HIV/AIDS

The AIDS epidemic has resulted in a tremendous cost in terms of loss of lives and life-quality worldwide, especially in Africa, where seventy percent of deaths from HIV-1 infection have occurred (UNAID and WHO 2004). In well-resourced settings, the decision to initiate ART is based predominantly on the presence of HIV-related symptoms and on CD4+ T-cell count (Badri and Wood 2003). Absolute CD4+ T-cell counts and CD4+ percentages have constituted the mainstay criteria for monitoring progression in HIV-1 infected patients. The measurement of CD4+ T cell count in developing country is very expensive in terms of equipments, reagents, and personnel. There is need for less expensive technique. Total Lymphocyte Count (TLC) is one of the tests taken in to consideration, because it is cheap and easy to measure. This study was carried out to evaluate the probability of using Total Lymphocyte Count as an alternative to CD4+ T cell count in guiding initiation of ART in adult HIV patients attending Infectious Diseases Hospital Kano.