Media Watch

NAT tests: Bloody marvellous!

By JournAIDS According to The Star in the past up to two South Africans per year became infected with HIV through blood transfusions, but thanks to nucleic acid testing (NAT), introduced in 2005, that number has dropped to and remained at zero for the past 5 years. Continue reading | 2 September 2011 | 0 Comments | Tags: antibody test, blood donation, hiv prevention, hiv testing, nat test, sanbs, the star, viral load, window period

DA puts the DoH to the ‘test’

By JournAIDS Going for an HIV test is daunting at the best of times without the added worry that the result might be a false negative. The Citizen and The Star newspapers have reported that a number of people tested for HIV at a Hillbrow clinic were told they had tested negative when they did in fact have HIV. The Health Department’s scant explanation of the event should have set alarm bells ringing and sent journalists and other interested parties in search of alternative explanations for this lapse. Continue reading | 29 July 2011 | 0 Comments | Tags: da, doh, false negative, g-ocean rapid test, healthcare, healthcare workers, hillbrow clinic, hiv test, politics, the citizen, the star, window period