Abstract

Ouédraogo SM, Sourabié Y , Bazié WW , Sanodji N , Barro M , Ouattara ABI , Traoré Y, Nacro B

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of real-time PCR and p24 antigen with children born to HIVpositive mothers. Method: It is about a prospective longitudinal study over a period of 14 months. PCR RNA of HIV-1 (HIV Charge Kit Generic Virale® ANRS G2) and P24 antigenemia (Biomerieux ®) were performed on blood samples of children from 6 weeks to 18 months. Children with viral load below 300 copies / ml (> 2.48 Log) and a title Ag P 24 less than 3 pg / ml were considered uncontaminated. All children were followed clinically and biologically up to 18 months when two serological tests (Determine® and Immunocoombs®) were performed on them for confirmation. Results: Were included 214 children born to HIV-positive mothers. The average age of children was 6 months (1.5 -18 months). The sex ratio was 0.79. The infection rate was 11.2% (24/214). The outcomes of the methods are given below: sensitivity and specificity were respectively 95.8% and 100% for PCR-RNA real-time and 83.3% and 98.4% for the quantitative p24 antigen. The correlation coefficient was r = 0 .37 which shows that there was not a good correlation between the two techniques. Conclusion: Both virologic and immunological tests have proven usefulness to the early diagnosis of HIV infection with children born to HIV infected mothers. Because of the low sensitivity of the P-24 assay in the early diagnosis of HIV infection with children born to HIV infected mothers, a popularization of this test in resource limited areas is not advised.