Imperial Receives Gates Foundation Grant to Develop New Tests for Managing AIDS Treatment in Developing Countries

LONDON -- Imperial College London has received a £4.9 ($8.6) million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a simple, affordable and rapid test to measure the health of the immune system in HIV/AIDS patients in developing countries.

The 'CD4 Initiative' will develop an easy to use device which can measure CD4+ T-lymphocytes in HIV+ patients. The CD4 cell count measures the number of these critical disease-fighting cells in the blood, a figure which health care workers need in order to make key clinical decisions in managing HIV disease, such as when to begin or to switch antiretroviral therapy.

To read the full release, visit the Imperial College London Web site.