Use of dried spots of whole blood, plasma, and mother's milk collected on filter paper for measurement of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 burden.

Full Abstract

We studied the use of dried spots of bodily fluids (plasma, whole blood, and mother's milk) on filter paper as a means of sample collection and storage for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) viral load testing under stringent field conditions. Plasma placed directly in lysis buffer, which is customarily used for viral load assays, was used for comparison in all our experiments. Utilizing reconstruction experiments, we demonstrate no statistical differences between viral loads determined for plasma and mother's milk spotted on filter paper and those for the same fluids placed directly in lysis buffer. We found that the addition of whole blood directly to lysis buffer was unreliable and could not be considered a feasible option. However, viral load measurements for whole blood spotted onto filter paper correlated with plasma viral load values for both filter spots and lysis buffer (Pearson correlation coefficients, 0.7706 and 0.8155, respectively). In conclusion, dried spots of plasma, whole blood, or mother's milk provide a feasible means for the collection, storage, and shipment of samples for subsequent viral load measurement and monitoring. Virus material spotted and dried on filter paper is a good inexpensive alternative for collecting patient material to monitor the HIV-1 viral load. Measuring the HIV-1 burden from whole blood dried on filter paper provides a suitable alternative for low-technology settings with limited access to refrigeration, as can be found in sub-Saharan Africa.

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Author information

Author/s: Ayele, Workenesh (W); Schuurman, Rob (R); Messele, Tsehaynesh (T); Dorigo-Zetsma, Wendelien (W); Mengistu, Yohannes (Y); Goudsmit, Jaap (J); Paxton, William A (WA); de Baar, Michel P (MP); Pollakis, Georgios (G);

Affiliation: Ethio-Netherlands AIDS Research Project, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Evaluation Studies; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of clinical microbiology (J Clin Microbiol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Mar; vol 45 (issue 3) : pp 891-6

Dates: Created 2007/03/05; Completed 2007/05/10; Revised 2008/11/20;

PMID: 17251400, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Blood Specimen Collection - methods
Female
Filtration - instrumentation
HIV Infections - virology
HIV-1 - isolation & purification; physiology

Humans
Milk, Human - virology
Paper
RNA, Viral - analysis; blood; isolation & purification
Viral Load

Associated Chemicals: RNA, Viral (0)

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