HIV test kit saga continues: German firm hits back at Professor Mwakyusa
-Says both he and WHO should conduct better literature research
THISDAY REPORTER
Dar es Salaam
THE German manufacturer of the Cyflow counter machine used to examine the number of CD4 cells in HIV/AIDS-infected people has challenged the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare's negative verdict on the machine, saying it was not based on proper research.
According to the chief scientist of PARTEC Germany, Dr Volker Ost, the Cyflow counter machine is ''leading in performance and excellence'', contrary to recent statements by Minister Prof. David Mwakyusa which appeared to question its capability.
''This repeatedly published statement of the current (Tanzanian) minister of health contradicts the huge majority of scientific papers and field reports (on the Cyflow CD4 counter machine) published in international scientific journals,'' Dr Ost said in a website statement yesterday.
Prof. Mwakyusa was quoted last weekend as saying the government has decided to reject the Cyflow CD4 counter machine for local use because it failed laboratory tests at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in 2004, and has also not been endorsed by World Health Organization (WHO).
According to the minister, Cyflow - which is widely used in poor countries because of its perceived effectiveness and use of cheap reagents compared to the US-made Facs Count machine - has been dismissed by WHO experts because of its functioning.
''Furthermore, it has been noted that the one parameter Cyflow counter may not be appropriate in monitoring TB co-infected patients,'' he stated.
''The decision by the government not to accept Cyflow was a result of the laboratory test results done by MUHAS, elsewhere in the world and the WHO position,'' Prof. Mwakyusa stated.
In his website response, Dr Ost accused the (Tanzanian) Ministry of Health of ''repeatedly giving out embarrassing statements contradicting the international research community.''
''It is astonishing that some WHO experts and the Tanzanian health minister, who is himself a professor of medicine, are obviously not able to do state-of-the-art literature researches. Any doctorate student in the world is able to perform this exercise,'' he railed, adding: ''Where are the publications underlining the statements of the Tanzanian health minister?''
Dr Ost said PARTEC CD4 counters are currently being used in more than 60 countries worldwide, including the United States, almost all European countries, Canada, China, India, Nigeria, Malawi, Sudan and Japan.
''Even some WHO departments repeatedly ordered CD4 counters from PARTEC. It begs the question why WHO is obviously not able to speak with one voice,'' he asserted.
He conceded that the Cyflow CD4 counter machine had failed to undergo normal evaluation at Muhimbili in 2004 because of the failure by PARTEC's local agent to clear it from the Mwalimu Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam on time, and provide reagents for the tests.
But he insisted that the machine has been endorsed by the American Centre for Disease Control (CDC), which he described as a key technical partner of the health ministry.
In his weekend statement, Prof. Mwakyusa said it had been established that when approached by the ministry to get its opinion on the efficiency of the Cyflow machine, the WHO responded thus:
''WHO has not organized or coordinated any independent multi-site evaluation on the instrument also, field experience has shown that Cyflow has not overcome technical challenges related to robustness of the equipment or reproducibility of results.''