NEW MANUAL FOR HIV DIAGNOSIS

The Ministry of Health has published the 4th edition of the Technical Manual for the Diagnosis of the HIV Infection in adults and children.

The Ordinance SVS/MS 29:2013, which approves this Manual, stipulates that it should be reviewed semi-annually and updated in the light of scientific advances by a committee composed of professionals of notorious knowledge.

In this sense, this 4th edition of the manual:

·         Updates item 4.2, “Quick Tests (QT)”, in particular regarding “Situations and locations where the Department of Surveillance, Prevention and Control of Sexually Transmitted Infections, HIV/AIDS and Viral Hepatitis recommends the use of quick tests”;

·         Updates item 6, “Failures and errors in the diagnosis of HIV infection”, clarifying the main factors related to obtaining false-reactive and false-non-reactive results and failures in the execution of quick tests;

·         Updates item 7, “Technovigilance”;

·         Improves the drafting of procedures and considerations for the use of HIV-1 testing flowcharts, bringing greater detail of each stage;

·         Specifies the steps for face-to-face and non-face-to-face testing in Flowchart 1;

·         Updates Flowchart 6 (Figure 19);

·         Improves the writing of recommendations for the diagnosis of acute HIV-1 and HIV-2 infection;

·         Improves the writing of the original as a whole, in order to clarify the text and resolve the doubts that users pointed out when implementing the actions, making it easier for the reader to understand the text.

Access the full text of the HIV Manual 4th edition from the Ministry of Health here