Laboratory and point-of-care diagnostic testing for STIs, including HIV

The World Health Organization (WHO) released an updated version of the manual ‘Laboratory and point-of-care diagnostic testing for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV’.

Overview

This updated manual provides a basic understanding of the principles of laboratory and point-of-care (POC) testing in the context of screening and diagnostic approaches, as well as antimicrobial susceptibility testing, as components of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) control. As with previous editions, this manual covers each disease in a separate chapter which provides detailed information on specimen collection, transport and laboratory testing. Two useful annexes covering media, reagents, diagnostic tests and stains (recipes) and laboratory supplies are included at the end of the manual.

While this manual does cover the most important STI pathogens, it is not exhaustive, and the reader may need to consult other resources for more information, for example, with respect to national STI policies, antimicrobial susceptibility testing guidelines, medico-legal issues, and STI testing in minors.

Background

WHO has published 3 previous versions of this manual, in 1989, 1999 and 2013, with the objective of providing a comprehensive guide to standard procedures for isolating, detecting and diagnosing STIs, for microbiologists and medical technologists. This manual was first conceived as a practical bench manual, tuned to the needs and capacities of laboratories, and it proved to be very popular.

In the past decade there have been a number of key advances in diagnostic procedures, in particular with respect to nucleic acid amplification tests and rapid diagnostic tests, also known as POC tests, as well as antimicrobial susceptibility testing methodologies, quality management systems and WHO recommendations based on up-to-date evidence.

Download the manual here.