Quality assurance in the HIV/AIDS laboratory network of China.
BACKGROUND
In 2009, there were 8273 local screening laboratories, 254 confirmatory laboratories, 35 provincial confirmatory central laboratories and 1 National AIDS Reference Laboratory (NARL) in China. These laboratories were located in Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) facilities, hospitals, blood donation clinics, maternal and child health (MCH) hospitals and border health quarantine health-care facilities.


METHODS
The NARL and provincial laboratories provide quality assurance through technical, bio-safety and managerial training; periodic proficiency testing; on-site supervisory inspections; and commercial serologic kit evaluations.


RESULTS
From 2002 to 2009, more than 220 million HIV antibody tests were performed at screening laboratories, and all reactive and indeterminate samples were confirmed at confirmatory laboratories. The use of highly technically complex tests, including CD4 cell enumeration, viral load, dried blood spot (DBS)-based early infant diagnosis (EID), drug resistance (DR) genotyping, HIV-1 subtyping and incidence assays, have increased in recent years and their performance quality is closely monitored.


CONCLUSIONS
China has made significant progress in establishing a well-coordinated HIV laboratory network and QA systems. However, the coverage and intensity of HIV testing and quality assurance programmes need to be strengthened so as to ensure that more infected persons are diagnosed and that they receive timely prevention and treatment services.
Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, People's Republic of China. jiangyan03@263.net
Yan
Y
Jiang
Maofeng
M
Qiu
Guiyun
G
Zhang
Wenge
W
Xing
Yao
Y
Xiao
Pinliang
P
Pan
Jun
J
Yao
Chin-Yih
CY
Ou
Xueli
X
Su
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D002681:China; D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training / Q000458:organization & administration; D007753:Laboratories / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011786:Quality Control