title: Quantification of human immunodeficiency virus-1 viral load using nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) in north central Nigeria.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Viral load (VL) quantification is considered an integral part of the standard care in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected individuals but in Nigeria as in most of sub-Saharan Africa, this has not reached the majority ofpatients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We report the first field application of the NucliSens EasyQ HIV-1 platform for the real time quantification of HIV-1 VL combining NASBA amplification and real time detection with molecular beacons among HIV-1 infected individuals in north central Nigeria where the predominant HIV-1 subtypes are CRF02_AG and G. CD4+ counts were enumerated using a fluorescence-activated cell sorter system.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of one hundred and forty nine (n=149) plasma sample from patients with mean age of 32 years and made up of 77 males and 72 females, fifty {n=50 (37.9%); 28 males and 22 females} had VLs below the lower detection limit (LDL=25 IU/ml) set by the assay while eighty-two {n=82 (62.1%); 39 males and 43 females} had VL levels above the LDL. Furthermore, 13 of 82 (15.9%) patients with viral loads above the LDL had VLs between 26-1000 IU/ml while 69 (84.1%) had VLs of 1001-2,400,000 IU/ml. 17 (11.4%) of the samples could not be analyzed due to poor viral amplification. Among individuals with both CD4+ and VL results (n=56), those with CD4+ of 1-418 cell/microl presented with higher VL usually above 45,000 IU/ml when compared with those with CD4+ of over 500 cell/microl.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings highlight the pattern, usefulness and feasibility ofVL quantification by NucliSens EasyQ in monitoring HIV-1 patients in Nigeria.
authors.affiliation: Virology Research Laboratory, Innovative Biotech-Abuja/Keffi, Nigeria. cforbi79@hotmail.com
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Forbi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gabadi
authors.forename: H O
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Iperepolu
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Esona
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Agwale
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood* / Q000821:virology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009549:Nigeria; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D021161:Self-Sustained Sequence Replication / Q000379:methods*; D019562:Viral Load; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral