Early Diagnosis of Hiv in Infants Using Dried Blood Spot- A Retrospective Study From 2010 to 2016

Abstract

BACKGROUNDMother-to-child transmission of HIV is a major cause of HIV in children. Detection of virus by DNA PCR is of utmost importance in <6 months of age as antibody detection is not helpful. Dried blood spot (DBS) method is a cheap, less invasive, easy and feasible method as compared to whole blood collection. Followup of babies up to 18 months is needed before declaring them negative. The study was undertaken to know the HIV transmission rates in babies up to 18 months.