Physical checks for AIDS nearly as good as lab tests

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) - AIDS patients in poor countries checked for signs of decline such as fever or weight loss are likely to have nearly the same survival rate as Western patients who undergo costly laboratory tests, researchers said on Friday.

Observing clinical symptoms is also almost as effective as laboratory analysis in deciding when to switch from first-line drug treatments to second-line drugs if resistance sets in, according to the study in the Lancet medical journal.

Doctors in poor countries, especially in Africa, often rely on physical signs alone to track progression of the deadly disease. There are about 2 million people in developing countries taking life-extending HIV drugs.

Few of those patients have access to costly tests to measure the body's immune levels by measuring how much virus is traveling in the bloodstream or by counting the numbers of immune cells called CD4 T-cells, which are standard in rich countries.

HIV infection is incurable but drug cocktails can help keep patients alive and healthy. These are usually started based on measures of how far along the infection has progressed.

The study suggests it is alright to make these assessments based on the patient's health rather than using the more expensive blood tests.

"Our results suggest that use of antiretroviral therapy without monitoring of viral load or CD4 cell count does not have marked detrimental effects on patient survival or on development of resistance," the researchers wrote.

Access to AIDS drugs should be expanded to all regions hit by the epidemic as soon as possible, they said. "Lack of access to laboratory monitoring should not be allowed to hinder this process."