Recent CAB LA trials have shown that long-acting extended delivery (LAED) of PrEP suppresses viral replication, delaying seroconversion and making HIV diagnosis with conventional diagnostics challenging. Delays in diagnosis can lead to ART resistance. While the addition of HIV viral load (VL) testing could address this challenge, implementation of HIV VL testing in LMIC settings where PrEP need is high is likely to be costly and challenging. While there are efforts to develop point-of-care viral load assays, these may not be sufficiently sensitive to detect low levels of viremia in the context of PrEP use. This symposium will: 1) review what is known about HIV diagnosis in the context of LAED; 2) review new developments in HIV diagnostics and self-testing; and 3) locate these developments in the context of implementation research priorities for CAB LA and future LAED.
25 July 2023
English
