Evaluation of the accuracy of the Asanté assay as a point-of-care rapid test for HIV-1 recent infections using serum bank specimens from blood donors in South Africa, July 2018 - August 2021.

Background: Point-of-care (POC) rapid recency testing can be used as a cost-effective tool to identify recently infected individuals (i.e. infected within the last 12 months) in near-real time, support epidemic control and identify hotspots for transmission as part of recent infection surveillance.

Recency of HIV infection, antiretroviral therapy use and viral loads among symptomatic sexually transmitted infection service attendees in South Africa.

Background: Better integration of HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention and treatment services is needed to accelerate progress towards the goal of zero new HIV infections.

Objectives: To describe HIV positivity, antiretroviral therapy (ART) use, viral suppression and recency of HIV infection among symptomatic STI service attendees at two primary care clinics in South Africa.

Methods: In a cross-sectional study, male and female STI service attendees presenting with symptoms consistent with STI syndromes were enrolled following informed consent.

An HIV Vaccine Protective Allele in Associates With Increased Odds of Perinatal HIV Acquisition.

In the Thai RV144 HIV-1 vaccine trial, a three-variant haplotype within the Fc gamma receptor 2C gene () reduced the risk of HIV-1 acquisition. A follow-on trial, HVTN702, of a similar vaccine candidate found no efficacy in South Africa, where the predominant population is polymorphic for only a single variant in the haplotype, c.134-96C>T (rs114945036).

Monitoring diagnosis, retention in care and viral load suppression in children testing HIV polymerase chain reaction-positive in two districts in South Africa.

Background: Retention in care is associated with improved virological control and survival among HIV-infected children. However, retention of children in HIV care remains a challenge.

Objectives: To describe, using routine laboratory HIV test data, the retention-in-care and virological outcomes of HIV-infected children aged <18 months in two districts in South Africa.

South African Ebola diagnostic response in Sierra Leone: A modular high biosafety field laboratory.

Background: In August 2014, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in South Africa established a modular high-biosafety field Ebola diagnostic laboratory (SA FEDL) near Freetown, Sierra Leone in response to the rapidly increasing number of Ebola virus disease (EVD) cases.

Methods And Findings: The SA FEDL operated in the Western Area of Sierra Leone, which remained a "hotspot" of the EVD epidemic for months. The FEDL was the only diagnostic capacity available to respond to the overwhelming demand for rapid EVD laboratory diagnosis for several weeks in the initial stages of the EVD crisis in the capital of Sierra Leone.