Simultaneous monitoring of HIV viral load and screening of SARS-CoV-2 employing a low-cost RT-qPCR test workflow.

ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted routine care for individuals living with HIV, putting them at risk of virologic failure and HIV-associated illness. Often this population is at high risk for exposure to SARS-CoV-2 infection, and once infected, for severe disease. Therefore, close monitoring of HIV plasma viral load (VL) and screening for SARS-CoV-2 infection are needed. We developed a non-proprietary method to isolate RNA from plasma, nasal secretions (NS), or both. The extracted RNA is then submitted to RT-qPCR to estimate the VL and classify HIV/SARS-CoV-2 status (i.e., HIV virologic failure or suppressed; SARS-CoV-2 as positive, presumptive positive, negative, or indeterminate). In contrived samples, the in-house RNA extraction workflow achieved a detection limit of 200-copies p

SUBMITTER: Gulati GK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10143869 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature