Free RNA testing for HIV/AIDS will help city health officials quickly identify high-risk populations and activities as they develop and, officials hope, help stem the spread of the deadly disease, officials said.
“Baltimore City is one of the first cities in the country to begin this testing,” said City Council President Sheila Dixon. “The results will be given sooner and it will have a greater impact in saving people?s lives earlier ? . I think it?s going to turn around this crisis that we have in this city.”
Unlike older tests, which look for the antibodies that show the body?s response to the HIV virus, RNA testing identifies the presence of the virus in blood samples. While the old test can give false negatives for weeks or even months after someone contracts the virus, RNA testing gives accurate results more immediately, said Dr. Kima Taylor, assistant health commissioner for disease prevention.
“Patients can be connected to treatment earlier,” Taylor said, and their partners can be informed more quickly.
The test will help city health workers focus testing and public information campaigns, and will catch a significant number of sick people when the disease is at its most virulent and potentially contagious, Taylor said.
The testing model, pioneered in North Carolina, helped health care workers identify previously unknown at-risk populations such as heterosexual black college students, said health commissioner Dr. Josh Sharfstein. New York and Los Angeles are piloting similar programs this year.
Baltimore tests 12,000 people annually, with nonprofit partners like Sisters Together and Reaching testing another 10,000 people in high-risk communities.
The RNA test is more expensive, $80 compared to older tests that range from $2 to $40, but its accuracy allows testing large composite batches of samples, said Dr. Emily Erbelding from Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Blood banks have used this technique for years. When a batch tests positive, technicians retest all samples that made up the batch.
Sharfstein said the test might increase screening costs by 3 percent, and patients who signed a release form do not have to give a new blood sample.
