Sion hospital ties up with NARI to detect HIV in newborn babies

Parents waiting keenly for the already-delayed arrival of the state-of-the-art Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machine to detect HIV in babies will have to wait longer.

While the Mumbai District Aids Control Society (MDACS) had promised that the machine-it can test newborn babies' DNA for the virus, while the ELISA test can be conducted only after the baby is 18 months old-would be made available at a public healthcare facility by October 2006, has now tied up with the National Aids Research Institute (NARI), Pune.
So, even as the anti-retroviral center of the Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital at Sion awaits PCR machine along with other six centers in India, doctors are now sending samples of a four-month-old baby of an HIV positive mother, who also has tuberculosis, to NARI, to check for the presence of the virus.

"We cannot wait for the PCR machine to come in Sion hospital, hence, we approached NARI who readily agreed to share their research machine for commercial use. Reports of the tests will come in by 8 to 10 days," said Dr Mamta Manglani, pediatric HIV specialist at Sion hospital.

With the first sample to be sent on April 15, doctors at Sion hospital are hopeful that this early intervention-that too free of cost-will help in treating babies of HIV positive mothers effectively.

A PCR machine helps in early detection of the virus in babies by amplifying HIV DNA. This early detection will in turn help reduce the risk of opportunistic diseases.

"At Sion Hospital, every year, we administer neveropine to more than 60 to 80 HIV-positive pregnant women to restrict mother-to-child transmission. That means an equal number of babies could theoretically be exposed to the virus, hence a DNA PCR is very important for early treatment," said Dr Manglani.

"First we are starting with Sion hospital, later, all other hospitals will first send their samples to Sion hospital as it has a regional pediatric center which will in turn send it to NARI," said Dr Dilip Vaswani, national consultant anti-retroviral treatment, WHO.

NARI on the other hand has promised to support the National Aids Control Organisation for commercial use of their PCR machine.