checking symptoms for HIV almost as good as costly lab tests

A new study in The Lancet shows that using simple clinical symptoms of HIV/AIDS, doctors can provide therapies almost as good as those made on the basis of costly laboratory analysis that are less accesible in poor countries - reported Washington Post.

The study is based on mathematical projections (not real patients) to predict the course of the epidemic in the UK over 20 years. The authors said the findings will reassure clinicians in poor countries that they are not comprising patient safety and should continue to wide access to ART (antiretroviral therapy) .