Background
More than 35 million people in developing countries are living with HIV infection. An enormous global effort is now underway to bring antiretroviral treatment to at least 3 million of those infected. While drug prices have dropped considerably, the cost and technical complexity of laboratory tests essential for the management of HIV disease, such as CD4 cell counts, remain prohibitive. New, simple, and affordable
Conclusion
Advances in the adaptation of new technologies to biomedical detection systems, such as the one described here, promise to make complex diagnostics for HIV and other infectious diseases a practical global reality.