The risk of sexual transmission of HIV in individuals with low-level HIV viraemia: a systematic review.

Background: The risk of sexual transmission of HIV from individuals with low-level HIV viraemia receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) has important public health implications, especially in resource-limited settings that use alternatives to plasma-based viral load testing. This Article summarises the evidence related to sexual transmission of HIV at varying HIV viral load levels to inform messaging for people living with HIV, their partners, their health-care providers, and the wider public.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review and searched PubMed, MEDLINE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Embase, Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Science, and WHO Global Index Medicus, for work published from Jan 1, 2010 to Nov 17, 2022.

The clinical effect of point-of-care HIV diagnosis in infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Timely diagnosis and treatment of HIV is crucial in HIV-exposed infants to prevent the high rates of mortality seen during the first 2 years of life if HIV is untreated. However, challenges with sample transportation, testing, and result delivery to caregivers have led to long delays in treatment initiation. We aimed to compare the clinical effect of point-of-care HIV testing versus laboratory-based testing (standard of care) in HIV-exposed infants.

The performance of using dried blood spot specimens for HIV-1 viral load testing: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Accurate routine HIV viral load testing is essential for assessing the efficacy of antiretroviral treatment (ART) regimens and the emergence of drug resistance. While the use of plasma specimens is the standard for viral load testing, its use is restricted by the limited ambient temperature stability of viral load biomarkers in whole blood and plasma during storage and transportation and the limited cold chain available between many health care facilities in resource-limited settings. Alternative specimen types and technologies, such as dried blood spots, may address these issues and increase access to viral load testing; however, their technical performance is unclear.

Evaluation of Zika rapid tests as aids for clinical diagnosis and epidemic preparedness.

Background: Development and evaluation of diagnostics for diseases of epidemic potential are often funded during epidemics, but not afterwards, leaving countries unprepared for the next epidemic. United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) partnered with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to address this important gap by investing in an advance purchase commitment (APC) mechanism to accelerate the development and evaluation of Zika rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for case detection and surveillance. This paper describes the performance evaluation of five Zika RDTs eligible for procurement.

The legacy of ZikaPLAN: a transnational research consortium addressing Zika.

Global health research partnerships with institutions from high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries are one of the European Commission's flagship programmes. Here, we report on the ZikaPLAN research consortium funded by the European Commission with the primary goal of addressing the urgent knowledge gaps related to the Zika epidemic and the secondary goal of building up research capacity and establishing a Latin American-European research network for emerging vector-borne diseases. Five years of collaborative research effort have led to a better understanding of the full clinical spectrum of congenital Zika syndrome in children and the neurological complications of Zika virus infections in adults and helped explore the origins and trajectory of Zika virus transmission.