Evaluation of the Use of Plasma Preparation Tubes for HIV Viral Load Testing in Nigeria.

BACKGROUND

Routine viral load (VL) monitoring of persons living with HIV (PLWH) on antiretroviral therapy (ART) is imperative for improving the long-term success of treatment. Due to a limited number of PCR laboratories, VL testing is centralized, requiring cold chain storage while transporting samples from remote healthcare centers to referral PCR laboratories, which is a major challenge. The Becton Dickinson (BD) Vacutainer® Plasma Preparation Tube (PPT) was designed to mitigate cold chain transport needs and secondary tube storage of plasma.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study assessed the suitability of PPTs for sample transportation in remote settings, in place of EDTA non-gel Vacutainers, eliminating the need for cold chain storage. Venous blood was collected from 115 PLWH into 3 Vacutainer tubes (1 EDTA and 2 PPT). The plasma obtained from the first PPT was assayed for HIV VL along with the plasma obtained from EDTA non-gel Vacutainer within 6 h on the COBAS 6800 (Roche Diagnostics) instrument. Samples from the second PPT were stored at room temperature (20 to 28°C) for 24 h before testing on the same instrument.

RESULTS

The Wilcoxon signed rank test and W statistic (P value 0.91) showed that VL results obtained from the EDTA were comparable to the PPT on the collection day, and after 24 h at room temperature. Sensitivity and specificity for same-day and 24-hour testing were both 100%.

CONCLUSIONS

The BD Vacutainer PPT was shown to have similar VL results to the EDTA non-gel Vacutainer, and can therefore be deployed to remote settings for sample collection and transportation to PCR referral laboratories.