Low cost CD4 test kit launched

A new kit to test CD4 cells in people living with HIV has been launched in Kenya.

The new kit known as MYT4, uses solar energy hence it can be used in remote parts of the country.

Health experts need to know the status of CD4 cells in patients to begin administering treatment a factor that has been slowed due to scarcity of tool kits.

“Knowing CD4 cells status is the first step towards treatment of HIV, at 40 per cent nearly half of patients in Africa, Kenya included have limited access to low cost technologies to enable them start treatment in time resulting in most deaths,” said Ms Joana Sickler, the Director Global Product’s strategy Zyomyx.

“What we have launched is a simple low cost box for testing CD4 cells, results from blood samples are known within 10 minutes of the test,” she said in an interview.

The tool kit is designed for Kenya’s remote clinics.

KEMRI has already evaluated the tool kit and clinical trials have already been carried out in countries such as South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Uganda.

According to the Clinton Health Access Initiative, over 40 per cent of HIV patients in Africa have limited access to CD4 testing.
Most health facilities cannot support the capital cost, infrastructure and human resource requirements for a flow cytometer, so CD4 testing is provided by transporting samples from clinics to central labs for testing on a flow cytometer, then sending the results back to the clinic.

Patients have to return to the clinic to get results, which can take weeks or months to be available, and often the samples, results or patients are lost from the system.

“We target health centers across the country and looking out to sell the kit in East and Central Africa in the coming years to reach thousands of HIV patients,” said Ms Sickler.