Diagnosis of paediatric HIV / AIDS [editorial]

Early diagnosis of HIV infection in pediatric populations is crucial in providing preventive services effective medical diagnosis and treatment and improving quality of life. This editorial discusses the challenges of diagnosing pediatric HIV and AIDS in the context of determining a pregnant womans HIV status for prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission diagnosing HIV infection in infants less than 18 months of age the difficulty of developing a clinical case definition to diagnose HIV-infected children and diagnosing pediatric AIDS through clinical criteria. It notes that as efforts are being conducted with diagnosing HIV infection HIV disease and AIDS in children where are five separate levels of failure of prevention: 1) failure to prevent HIV infection in women of reproductive age; 2) failure to have adequate HIV counseling and testing services for pregnant women; 3) failure to prevent HIV transmission from mother-to-child; 4) failure to develop an inexpensive laboratory alternative to polymerase chain reaction for diagnosing early HIV infection in children younger than 18 months; and 5) failure to prevent opportunistic infections in HIV-infected children. In this perspective several recommendations addressing the issue are cited.