New HIV Tests and New Algorithms: The Key to Test and Treat
Bernard M. Branson, MD
Associate Director for HIV Laboratory Diagnostics
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
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At the completion of this educational session, learners will:
- Recognize shortcomings in current HIV testing strategies, including point-of-care tests and the Western blot.
- Understand the new algorithm for HIV testing that is being implemented by an increasing number of laboratories (including the New York City and Wadsworth Laboratories).
- Appreciate the benefits of identifying Acute HIV Infection for optimal patient management, public health interventions, because of its disproportionate role in sustaining HIV transmission.
- Know how to interpret results of HIV tests that have recently received FDA approval and what new tests are on the horizon.
Bernard Branson is currently Associate Director for Laboratory Diagnostics in the
Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention in the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis,
STD, and TB Prevention at the CDC. Dr. Branson has been the chief architect for CDC’s
activities surrounding new technologies for HIV testing, including rapid HIV tests and
tests for HIV incidence. He was lead author for CDC’s 2006 Revised Recommendations
for HIV Testing of Adults, Adolescents, and Pregnant Women in Health Care Settings.
Most recently Dr. Branson conceived and coordinated validation of the new diagnostic
algorithm for laboratory testing to establish the diagnosis of HIV. Dr. Branson has been
involved in HIV testing for more than 25 years, and authored more than 50 peer-reviewed
articles on HIV diagnostics, HIV screening, and cost-effectiveness. Before joining CDC
in 1990, Dr. Branson was in private practice and clinical faculty at the Johns Hopkins
Medical Institutions.
To obtain CME credit for this and other PRN programs, please visit the
PRN Video Channel at the Clinical Education Initiative (CEI) web site http://www.ceitraining.org/prn-video/. PRN and the Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY) jointly sponsor PRN enduring materials for CME, and provide them at no cost to the AIDS Institute of the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) for broadcast through the CEI. We thank the NYSDOH for making our CME programs available to a wider audience, and hope you will also browse the many other educational opportunities offered by the CEI.
