Publications by authors named "Cheri van der Walt"
Quantifying viral load, a key indicator required to achieve control and elimination of the HIV epidemic, requires cell-free plasma or serum to ensure measurements are not biased by proviral DNA contained in infected CD4 T lymphocytes. Plasma separation cards (PSC) collect and preserve a dried specimen, which makes them practical solutions for decentralized sample collection and transport in limited-resource settings. However, physiological variations in hematocrit levels can introduce significant variability in the quality of plasma generated by commercial PSCs and can lead to inaccurate test results and clinical decisions.
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- The WHO recommends integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs) as first-line treatment for HIV, but there's limited data on drug resistance in resource-limited settings like Cameroon.
- In a study of 56 INSTI-naive patient viral sequences from Cameroon, researchers analyzed 37 high-quality sequences, finding the majority belonged to the CRF02_AG subtype.
- The analysis revealed that 18.9% of the sequences had resistance-associated mutations (RAMs), with only 5.4% showing major RAMs that could affect treatment, highlighting the need for further monitoring in resource-limited areas.