DUSHANBE, February 1, Asia-Plus – A laboratory for making HIV Proviral DNA test by PCR (polymerase chain reaction) is expecting to be delivered to Tajikistan in mid-February, Murodali Ruziyev, director of Tajikistan’s Republican AIDS-Prevention Center, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a biochemistry and meical biology technique for enzymatically replicating DNA without using a living organism. Like amplification using living organisms, the technique allows a small amount of DNA to be amplified exponentially. As PCR is an in vitro technique, it can be performed without restrictions on the form of DNA, and it can be extensively modified to perform a wide array of genetic manipulations.
According to Ruziyev, PCR is commonly used in medical and biological research labs for a variety of tasks, such as the detection of hereditary diseases, the identification of genetic fingerprints, the fiagnosis of infectious diseases, the clonig of genses, patermity testing and DNA computing.
The AIDS-Prevention Center director said that the lab had been purchased due to a grant awarded by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) through the UNDP CO Tajikistan.
Ruziyev added that antiretroviral therapy (ART) of HIV infection has been used in Tajikistan since 2003. “73 people have to date undergone the ART treatment in Tajikistan,” Ruziyev noted.
ART saves lives and can be delivered effectively in resource-poor settings. The “3 by 5” initiative, launched by UNAIDS and WHO in 2003, was a global target to provide three million people living with HIV/AIDS in low- and middle-income countries with life-prolonging antiretroviral treatment (ART) by the end of 2005. It was a step towards the goal of making universal access of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment accessible for all who need them as a human right
“At present there are 710 officially registered HIV-infected in Tajikistan,” said Ruziyev, “Of them, 466 are injecting drug users.”
Asked about cases when people were contaminated with HIV during blood transfusion, Ruziyev said no such cases have been reported over last five years. “Solitary such cases were reported in the republic before 2005,” said the AIDS-Prevention Center director, “After Tajikistan in 2003 received a grant from the Global Fund and medical facilities were provided with equipment to make HIV blood tests, no such cases have been reported in the country.”
“Since 1991, 30 HIV-infected people have died in Tajikistan, primarily from narcotics overdosing and tuberculosis,” Ruziyev said.
