Reduction in Perinatal HIV Infections in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, in the Era of More Effective Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission Interventions (2004–2012)

Laboratory Data Timeliness and Completeness Improves Following Implementation of an Electronic Laboratory Information System in Côte d'Ivoire: Quasi-Experimental Study on 21 Clinical Laboratories From 2014 to 2020

BACKGROUND

The Ministry of Health in Côte d'Ivoire and the International Training and Education Center for Health at the University of Washington, funded by the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, have been collaborating to develop and implement the Open-Source Enterprise-Level Laboratory Information System (OpenELIS). The system is designed to improve HIV-related laboratory data management and strengthen quality management and capacity at clinical laboratories across the nation.

OBJECTIVE

This evaluation aimed to quantify the effects of implementing OpenELIS on data quality for laboratory tests related to HIV care and treatment.

METHODS

This evaluation used a quasi-experimental design to perform an interrupted time-series analysis to estimate the changes in the level and slope of 3 data quality indicators (timeliness, completeness, and validity) after OpenELIS implementation. We collected paper and electronic records on clusters of differentiation 4 (CD4) testing for 48 weeks before OpenELIS adoption until 72 weeks after. Data collection took place at 21 laboratories in 13 health regions that started using OpenELIS between 2014 and 2020. We analyzed the data at the laboratory level. We estimated odds ratios (ORs) by comparing the observed outcomes with modeled counterfactual ones when the laboratories did not adopt OpenELIS.

RESULTS

There was an immediate 5-fold increase in timeliness (OR 5.27, 95% CI 4.33-6.41; P<.001) and an immediate 3.6-fold increase in completeness (OR 3.59, 95% CI 2.40-5.37; P<.001). These immediate improvements were observed starting after OpenELIS installation and then maintained until 72 weeks after OpenELIS adoption. The weekly improvement in the postimplementation trend of completeness was significant (OR 1.03, 95% CI 1.02-1.05; P<.001). The improvement in validity was not statistically significant (OR 1.34, 95% CI 0.69-2.60; P=.38), but validity did not fall below pre-OpenELIS levels.

CONCLUSIONS

These results demonstrate the value of electronic laboratory information systems in improving laboratory data quality and supporting evidence-based decision-making in health care. These findings highlight the importance of OpenELIS in Côte d'Ivoire and the potential for adoption in other low- and middle-income countries with similar health systems.

A comparison of chest radiographic findings in human immunodeficiency virus-positive and -negative children with pulmonary tuberculosis

AIM

To compare chest radiography (CXR) findings in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive and HIV-negative children who had microbiologically confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Retrospective analysis of CXRs from children with known HIV status and microbiologically confirmed PTB (culture or GeneXpert Xpert MTB/RIF positive), who were hospitalised or seen at a primary healthcare centre over a 5-year period. Radiological findings were compared according to HIV and nutritional status.

RESULTS

CXRs of 130 children were analysed from 35 (27%) HIV- positive and 95 (73%) HIV-negative children with confirmed PTB, median age 45.7 months (interquartile range [IQR] 18-81.3 months). CXR changes consistent with PTB were reported in 21/35 (60%) of HIV-positive and 59/95 (62%) of HIV-negative patients, (p=0.81). Normal CXR was identified in 3/35 (8.6%) of HIV-positive and 5/95 (5.3%) of HIV-negative patients (p=0.81). Airway compression was present in 3/35 (8.6%) of HIV-positive and 7/95 (7.4%) of HIV-negative patients (p>0.99). Overall, lymphadenopathy was identified in 42/130 (32.3%) of patients, 11/35 (31.4 %) were HIV-positive compared with 31/95 (32.6%) HIV-negative patients. Airspace consolidation was present in 60% of both HIV-positive (21/35) and HIV-negative patients (57/95). Pleural effusion was present in 2/35 (5.7 %) of HIV-negative and 9/95 (9.5 %) of HIV-negative patients. There were no statistically significant radiological differences by HIV group.

CONCLUSION

There were no significant differences in the CXR findings between the HIV-positive and HIV-negative children with confirmed PTB.

Spatiotemporal Variation and Predictors of Unsuppressed Viral Load among HIV-Positive Men and Women in Rural and Peri-Urban KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Unsuppressed HIV viral load is an important marker of sustained HIV transmission. We investigated the prevalence, predictors, and high-risk areas of unsuppressed HIV viral load among HIV-positive men and women. Unsuppressed HIV viral load was defined as viral load of ≥400 copies/mL. Data from the HIV Incidence District Surveillance System (HIPSS), a longitudinal study undertaken between June 2014 to June 2016 among men and women aged 15−49 years in rural and peri-urban KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, were analysed. A Bayesian geoadditive regression model which includes a spatial effect for a small enumeration area was applied using an integrated nested Laplace approximation (INLA) function while accounting for unobserved factors, non-linear effects of selected continuous variables, and spatial autocorrelation. The prevalence of unsuppressed HIV viral load was 46.1% [95% CI: 44.3−47.8]. Predictors of unsuppressed HIV viral load were incomplete high school education, being away from home for more than a month, alcohol consumption, no prior knowledge of HIV status, not ever tested for HIV, not on antiretroviral therapy (ART), on tuberculosis (TB) medication, having two or more sexual partners in the last 12 months, and having a CD4 cell count of <350 cells/μL. A positive non-linear effect of age, household size, and the number of lifetime HIV tests was identified. The higher-risk pattern of unsuppressed HIV viral load occurred in the northwest and northeast of the study area. Identifying predictors of unsuppressed viral load in a localized geographic area and information from spatial risk maps are important for targeted prevention and treatment programs to reduce the transmission of HIV.

Interpersonal therapy versus antidepressant medication for treatment of postpartum depression and anxiety among women with HIV in Zambia: a randomized feasibility trial

Introduction

Postpartum depression (PPD) is a prevalent and debilitating disease that may affect medication adherence and thus maternal health and vertical transmission among women with HIV. We assessed the feasibility of a trial of interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) versus antidepressant medication (ADM) to treat PPD and/or anxiety among postpartum women with HIV in Lusaka, Zambia.

Methods

Between 29 October 2019 and 8 September 2020, we pre‐screened women 6–8 weeks after delivery with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and diagnosed PPD or anxiety with the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Consenting participants were randomized 1:1 to up to 11 sessions of IPT or daily self‐administered sertraline and followed for 24 weeks. We assessed EPDS score, Clinical Global Impression‐Severity of Illness (CGI‐S) and medication side effects at each visit and measured maternal HIV viral load at baseline and final study visit. Retention, visit adherence, change in EPDS, CGI‐S and log viral load were compared between groups with t‐tests and Wilcoxon signed rank tests; we report mean differences, relative risks and 95% confidence intervals. A participant satisfaction survey assessed trial acceptability.

Results

78/80 (98%) participants were retained at the final study visit. In the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic, visit adherence was greater among women allocated to ADM (9.9 visits, SD 2.2) versus IPT (8.9 visits, SD 2.4; p = 0.06). EPDS scores decreased from baseline to final visit overall, though mean change was greater in the IPT group (−13.8 points, SD 4.7) compared to the ADM group (−11.4 points, SD 5.5; p = 0.04). Both groups showed similar changes in mean log viral load from baseline to final study visit (mean difference −0.43, 95% CI −0.32, 1.18; p = 0.48). In the IPT group, viral load decreased significantly from baseline (0.9 log copies/ml, SD 1.7) to final visit (0.2 log copies/ml, SD 0.9; p = 0.01).

Conclusions

This pilot study demonstrates that a trial of two forms of PPD treatment is feasible and acceptable among women with HIV in Zambia. IPT and ADM both improved measures of depression severity; however, a full‐scale trial is required to determine whether treatment of PPD and anxiety improves maternal–infant HIV outcomes.

Preservation of lymphocyte functional fitness in perinatally-infected and treated HIV+ pediatric patients displaying sub-optimal viral control

Background

Host–pathogen dynamics associated with HIV infection are quite distinct in children versus adults. We interrogated the functional fitness of the lymphocyte responses in two cohorts of perinatally infected HIV+ pediatric subjects with early anti-retroviral therapy (ART) initiation but divergent patterns of virologic control. We hypothesized that sub-optimal viral control would compromise immune functional fitness.

Methods

The immune responses in the two HIV+ cohorts (n = 6 in each cohort) were benchmarked against the responses measured in age-range matched, uninfected healthy control subjects (n = 11) by utilizing tests for normality, and comparison [the Kruskal–Wallis test, and the two-tailed Mann–Whitney U test (where appropriate)]. Lymphocyte responses were examined by intra-cellular cytokine secretion, degranulation assays as well as phosflow. A subset of these data were further queried by an automated clustering algorithm. Finally, we evaluated the humoral immune responses to four childhood vaccines in all three cohorts.

Results

We demonstrate that contrary to expectations pediatric HIV+ patients with sub-optimal viral control display no significant deficits in immune functional fitness. In fact, the patients that display better virologic control lack functional Gag-specific T cell responses and compared to healthy controls they display signaling deficits and an enrichment of mitogen-stimulated CD3 negative and positive lymphocyte clusters with suppressed cytokine production.

Conclusions

These results highlight the immune resilience in HIV+ children on ART with sub-optimal viral control. With respect to HIV+ children on ART with better viral control, our data suggest that this cohort might potentially benefit from targeted interventions that might mitigate cell-mediated immune functional quiescence.

Unmet needs of high-risk mothers reduce success of antiretroviral treatment in HIV-infected infants

In the era of effective prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, the same psychosocioeconomic factors that predispose to mother-to-child transmission also substantially increase the likelihood of antiretroviral therapy failure in infected infants. For HIV-infected infants to benefit from early infant diagnosis and treatment initiation, into which much funding and effort is now invested, it is vital that these unmet needs of high-risk mothers are urgently attended to. From an ongoing study of early infant diagnosis and treatment following in utero transmission in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, we describe four cases to highlight these challenges facing transmitting mothers that contribute to treatment failure in their infants.

Recovery of effective HIV-specific CD4+ T-cell activity following antiretroviral therapy in paediatric infection requires sustained suppression of viraemia

Background:

The success of increasing access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in paediatric HIV infection prompts the question of the potential for eradication of HIV infection in this age group. ‘Shock-and-kill’ HIV cure approaches, currently in development, may depend upon an effective antiviral T-cell response to eradicate virus-infected cells.

Method:

We here investigate the ability of HIV-infected children receiving ART from early childhood (median 24 months’ age) to generate effective HIV-specific CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T-cell immune responses that would facilitate future immune-based cure therapies.

Results:

Initial analysis of ART-naive HIV-infected children demonstrated that maintenance of normal-for-age absolute CD4⁺ T-cell counts was strongly linked to high IL-2 production and polyfunctional HIV-specific CD4⁺ T-cell responses (P < 0.0001 in each case). Low viral load was, similarly, strongly associated with markedly low IFN-γ and high IL-2 HIV-specific CD4⁺ T-cell responses (P < 0.0001). In children receiving ART, establishment of this immune profile (high IL-2 and low IFN-γ HIV-specific T-cell production) was strongly related to the duration of viraemic suppression. Failure to suppress viraemia on ART, and even the successful suppression of viraemia interrupted by the occurrence of transient viraemia of more than 1000 HIV copies/ml, was associated with an immune profile of high IFN-γ and low IL-2 HIV-specific T-cell responses and low polyfunctionality.

Conclusion:

These data are consistent with recovery of functional CD4⁺ T-cell responses in ART-treated children, in contrast to relative lack of CD4⁺ T-cell function recovery described in ART-treated adults. However, the challenges of achieving long-term suppression of viraemia in ART-treated children through adolescence remain daunting.

Implementation effectiveness of revised (post-2010) World Health Organization guidelines on prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV using routinely collected data in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic literature review

BACKGROUND

To synthesize and evaluate the impact of implementing post-2010 World Health Organization (WHO) prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) guidelines on attainment of PMTCT targets.

METHODS

Retrospective and prospective cohort study designs that utilized routinely collected data with a focus on provision and utilization of the cascade of PMTCT services were included. The outcomes included the proportion of pregnant women who were tested during their antenatal clinic (ANC) visits; mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) rate; adherence; retention rate; and loss to follow-up (LTFU).

RESULTS

Of the 1210 references screened, 45 met the inclusion criteria. The studies originated from 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The highest number of studies originated from Malawi (10) followed by Nigeria and South Africa with 7 studies each. More than half of the studies were on option A while the majority of option B+ studies were conducted in Malawi. These studies indicated a high uptake of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing ranging from 75% in Nigeria to over 96% in Zimbabwe and South Africa. High proportions of CD4 count testing were reported in studies only from South Africa despite that in most of the countries CD4 testing was a prerequisite to access treatment. MTCT rate ranged from 1.1% to 15.1% and it was higher in studies where data were collected in the early days of the WHO 2010 PMTCT guidelines. During the postpartum period, adherence and retention rate decreased, and LTFU increased for both HIV-positive mothers and exposed infants.

CONCLUSION

Irrespective of which option was followed, uptake of antenatal HIV testing was high but there was a large drop off along later points in the PMTCT cascade. More research is needed on how to improve later components of the PMTCT cascade, especially of option B+ which is now the norm throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

Provision of critical care services to HIV-infected children in an era of advanced intensive care and availability of combined antiretroviral therapy

Intensive care facilities are always in demand in the public sector and there is constant competition for beds. Appropriate allocation of children to these resources is based on the ethical principles of distributive justice and beneficence that is determined on the presumed short-term outcome of the acute illness, long-term outcome of the underlying chronic disease and the overall demand for these facilities. At the onset of the HIV epidemic in South Africa, HIV-infected children were refused admission to the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) on the basis of poor ICU outcomes and the lack of provision of combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) for survivors. The recent significant improvement in outcome in these patients through early recognition and treatment of HIV-related opportunistic infections, the provision of advanced organ support and the routine availability of cART suggests that the previous policy requires review. Ethical principles, the Paediatric Index of Mortality Score for each request, the quality and disability-adjusted life years and cost-effectiveness of care are all important considerations in deciding which patients should be allowed access to these limited and expensive resources. With the improved long-term outcome in HIV-infected children on cART, admission of these cases to a PICU should now be based on the prognosis of the acute illness, as with any other chronic disease such as asthma or diabetes. Withholding and withdrawing advanced life support should accord with standard protocols applied to any condition for which a child is admitted to the PICU.

Paediatric HIV infection: the potential for cure

Recent anecdotal reports of HIV-infected children who received early antiretroviral therapy (ART) and showed sustained control of viral replication even after ART discontinuation have raised the question of whether there is greater intrinsic potential for HIV remission, or even eradication ('cure'), in paediatric infection than in adult infection. This Review describes the influence of early initiation of ART, of immune ontogeny and of maternal factors on the potential for HIV cure in children and discusses the unique immunotherapeutic opportunities and obstacles that paediatric infection may present.

Real-time polymerase chain reaction optimised for hepatitis C virus detection in dried blood spots from HIV-exposed infants, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Background

There is a paucity of data on the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in children, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. A major obstacle in resource-limited settings for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing is the necessity for specimen transportation and storage at low temperatures. There are numerous recent studies of using real-time HCV PCR for diagnosis and screening of plasma and serum, but few have looked at using dried blood spot (DBS) specimens.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to optimise a real-time HCV PCR method to detect HCV RNA from infant DBS specimens for use as a tool for HCV surveillance in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Method

The LightCycler^® 2.0 instrument was used for the HCV PCR using the LightCycler^® RNA Master SYBR Green I kit. Template volume, primer concentration and primer annealing temperatures were optimised and the method was used on 179 DBS specimens from HIV-exposed infants in KwaZulu-Natal.

Results

Primer concentrations adjusted to 0.25 µM and a template volume of 10 µL improved the PCR amplification. Primer annealing temperatures lowered from 65 °C to 58 °C resulted in higher quantities of amplified PCR product. The limit of detection of the optimised HCV PCR assay was between 1200 IU/mL and 3580 IU/mL of HCV RNA. HCV was not detected in any of the 179 DBS specimens.

Conclusion

The optimised real-time HCV PCR on infant DBS specimens performed well, but HCV was not found in this surveillance study. HIV infection may have little impact on the vertical transmission of HCV in this region.

Dried blood spot specimen quality and validation of a new pre-analytical processing method for qualitative HIV-1 PCR, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

BACKGROUND

Poor quality dried blood spot (DBS) specimens are usually rejected by virology laboratories, affecting early infant diagnosis of HIV. The practice of combining two incompletely-filled DBS in one specimen preparation tube during pre-analytical specimen processing (i.e., the two-spot method) has been implemented to reduce the number of specimens being rejected for insufficient volume.

OBJECTIVES

This study analysed laboratory data to describe the quality of DBS specimens and the use of the two-spot method over a one-year period, then validated the two-spot method against the standard (one-spot) method.

METHODS

Data on HIV-1 PCR test requests submitted in 2014 to the Department of Virology at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa were analysed to describe reasons for specimen rejection, as well as results of the two-spot method. The accuracy, lower limit of detection and precision of the two-spot method were assessed.

RESULTS

Of the 88 481 specimens received, 3.7% were rejected for pre-analytical problems. Of those, 48.9% were rejected as a result of insufficient specimen volume. Two health facilities had significantly more specimen rejections than other facilities. The two-spot method prevented 10 504 specimen rejections. The Pearson correlation coefficient comparing the standard to the two-spot method was 0.997.

CONCLUSIONS

The two-spot method was comparable with the standard method of pre-analytical specimen processing. Two health facilities were identified for targeted retraining on specimen quality. The two-spot method of DBS specimen processing can be used as an adjunct to retraining, to reduce the number of specimens rejected and improve linkage to care.

Improved pregnancy outcomes with increasing antiretroviral coverage in South Africa

BACKGROUND

Universal multi drug antiretroviral treatment in pregnancy is a global priority in our bid to eliminate paediatric HIV infections although few studies have documented the impact of antiretroviral coverage on overall pregnancy outcomes.

METHODS

We conducted a maternity audit at a large regional hospital in South Africa during July-December 2011 and January-June 2014 with an aim to determine an association between pregnancy outcomes and the ARV treatment guidelines implemented during those specific periods. During 2011, women received either Zidovudine/sd Nevirapine or Stavudine/Lamivudine/Nevirapine if CD4+ count was < 350 cells/ml. During 2014, all HIV positive pregnant women were eligible for a fixed dose combination (FDC) of triple ARVs (Tenofovir/Emtracitabine/Efavirenz).

RESULTS

In 2011, 622 (35.9%) of 1732 HIV positive pregnant women received triple antiretrovirals (D4T/3TC/NVP) and in 2014, 2104 (94.8%) of 2219 HIV positive pregnant women received the fixed dose combination (TDF/FTC/EFV). We observed a reduction in the proportion of unregistered pregnancies, caesarean delivery rate, still birth rate, very low birth weight rate, and very premature delivery rate in 2014. In a bivariate analysis of all 9,847 deliveries, unregistered pregnancies (2.2%) and HIV infection (37.8%) remained significant risk factors for SB(OR 6.36 and 1.43 respectively), PTD(OR 4.23 and 1.26 respectively),LBW (OR 4.07 and 1.26 respectively) and SGA(OR 2.17 and 1.151 respectively). In a multivariable analysis of HIV positive women only, having received AZT/NVP or D4T/3TC/NVP or EFV/TDF/FTC as opposed to not receiving any ARV was significantly associated with reduced odds of a SB (OR 0.08, 0.21 and 0.18 respectively), PTD (OR 0.52, 0.68 and 0.56 respectively) and LBW(0.37, 0.61 and 0.52 respectively).

CONCLUSION

An improvement in birth outcomes is likely associated with the increased coverage of triple antiretroviral treatment for pregnant women. And untreated HIV infected women and women who do not seek antenatal care should be considered most at risk for poor birth outcomes.

A post-partum single-dose TDF/FTC tail does not prevent the selection of NNRTI resistance in women receiving pre-partum ZDV and intrapartum single-dose nevirapine to prevent mother-to- child HIV-1 transmission

Although the rates of vertical transmission of HIV in the developing world have improved to around 3% in countries like South Africa, resistance to antiretrovirals (ARV) used in Prevention of Mother‐to‐Child transmission (pMTCT) strategies may thwart such outcomes and affect the efficacy of future ARV regimens in mothers and children. This study conducted in Durban, South Africa, between 2010 and 2013 found a high rate of nevirapine (NVP) resistance among women receiving Zidovudine (AZT) from 14 weeks gestation, single dose nevirapine (sd NVP) at the onset of labor and a single dose of coformulated Tenofovir/Emtricitabine (TDF/FTC) postpartum. Using Sanger sequencing, high and intermediate levels of nevirapine (NVP) resistance were detected in 15/44 (34%) and in 1/44 (2%) of women tested, respectively. Most subjects selected the K103N mutation (22% (10/45) of all patients and 66% (10/15) of those with high‐level NVP resistance). Such rate of NVP resistance is comparable to studies where only sd NVP was used. In conclusion, a post‐partum single‐dose TDF/FTC tail does not prevent the selection of NNRTI resistance in women receiving pre‐partum ZDV and intrapartum sd NVP to prevent mother‐to‐child HIV‐1 transmission. J. Med. Virol. 87:1662–1667, 2015. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Medical Virology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The cost-effectiveness of different feeding patterns combined with prompt treatments for preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission in South Africa: estimates from simulation modeling

Objectives

Based on the important changes in South Africa since 2009 and the Antiretroviral Treatment Guideline 2013 recommendations, we explored the cost-effectiveness of different strategy combinations according to the South African HIV-infected mothers' prompt treatments and different feeding patterns.

Study Design

A decision analytic model was applied to simulate cohorts of 10,000 HIV-infected pregnant women to compare the cost-effectiveness of two different HIV strategy combinations: (1) Women were tested and treated promptly at any time during pregnancy (Promptly treated cohort). (2) Women did not get testing or treatment until after delivery and appropriate standard treatments were offered as a remedy (Remedy cohort). Replacement feeding or exclusive breastfeeding was assigned in both strategies. Outcome measures included the number of infant HIV cases averted, the cost per infant HIV case averted, and the cost per life year(LY) saved from the interventions. One-way and multivariate sensitivity analyses were performed to estimate the uncertainty ranges of all outcomes.

Results

The remedy strategy does not particularly cost-effective. Compared with the untreated baseline cohort which leads to 1127 infected infants, 698 (61.93%) and 110 (9.76%) of pediatric HIV cases are averted in the promptly treated cohort and remedy cohort respectively, with incremental cost-effectiveness of $68.51 and $118.33 per LY, respectively. With or without the antenatal testing and treatments, breastfeeding is less cost-effective ($193.26 per LY) than replacement feeding ($134.88 per LY), without considering the impact of willingness to pay.

Conclusion

Compared with the prompt treatments, remedy in labor or during the postnatal period is less cost-effective. Antenatal HIV testing and prompt treatments and avoiding breastfeeding are the best strategies. Although encouraging mothers to practice replacement feeding in South Africa is far from easy and the advantages of breastfeeding can not be ignored, we still suggest choosing replacement feeding as far as possible.

What does high and low have to do with it? Performance classification to identify health system factors associated with effective prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV delivery in Mozambique

Introduction

Efforts to implement and take to scale highly efficacious, low-cost interventions to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission (pMTCT) have been a cornerstone of reproductive health services in sub-Saharan Africa for over a decade. Yet efforts to increase access and utilization of these services remain far from optimal. This study developed and applied an approach to systematically classify pMTCT performance to identify modifiable health system factors associated with pMTCT performance which may be replicated in other pMTCT systems.

Methods

Facility-level performance measures were collected at 30 sites over a 12-month period and reviewed for consistency. Five combinations of three indicators (1. HIV testing; 2. CD4 testing; 3. antiretroviral prophylaxis and combined antiretroviral therapy initiation) were compared including a composite of all three, a combination of 1. and 3., and each individually. Approaches were visually assessed to describe facility performance, focusing on rank order consistency across high, medium and low categories. Modifiable and non-modifiable factors were ascertained at each site and ranking process was reviewed to estimate association with facility performance through unadjusted Chi-square tests and logistic regression. After describing factors associated with high versus low performing pMTCT clinics, the effect of inclusion of the 10 middle performers was assessed.

Results

The indicator most consistently associated with the reference composite indicator (HIV testing, antiretroviral prophylaxis and combined antiretroviral therapy) was the single measure of antiretroviral prophylaxis and combined antiretroviral therapy. Lower performing pMTCT clinics ranked consistently low across measurement strategies; high and middle performing clinics demonstrated more variability. Association between clinic characteristics and high pMTCT performance varied markedly across ranking strategies. Using the reference composite indicator, larger catchment area, higher number of institutional deliveries, onsite CD4 point-of-care capacity, and higher numbers of nurses and doctors were associated with high clinic performance while clinic location, NGO support, women's support group, community linkages patient-tracking systems and stock-outs were not associated with high performance.

Conclusions

Classifying high and low performance provided consistent results across ranking measures, though granularity was improved by aggregating middle performers with either high or low performers. Human resources, catchment size and utilization were positively associated with effective pMTCT service delivery.

Irreproducible positive results on the Cobas AmpliPrep/Cobas TaqMan HIV-1 Qual test are different qualitatively from confirmed positive results

Criteria that define low positive results on the COBAS® AmpliPrep/COBAS® TaqMan (CAP/CTM) HIV-1 Qual test as inconclusive have been adopted by all academic centres in South Africa that conduct infant HIV PCR, following previous investigations that showed poor specificity of these results. Retesting all inconclusive specimens has considerable cost implications. Therefore, it was attempted to characterise such inconclusive results, by comparing those that prove to be either negative or positive on follow-up testing. This retrospective, laboratory-based study found that 193 of 211 (91.5%) patients with previous inconclusive results (defined as reported positive by CAP/CTM but with cycle threshold [Ct ] values of >32 and/or fluorescence intensity [FI] values of <5) tested negative and only 18 (8.5%) tested positive using independently obtained follow-up samples after a median of 28 days. The only significant independent predictor of a later positive result was a higher FI value (3.326 vs. 0.495, P < 0.0001), whereas Ct values were not predictive independently. Specimens from patients negative on follow-up testing differed qualitatively from specimens that proved to be true positives. As the lower FI values in false-positive compared to true-positive results probably are indicative of a non-specific signal, the incorporation of stringent amplification slope criteria in the assay's test definition file may improve correct classification and thus reduce the need for repeat testing of a large number of inconclusive specimens.