In the October editorial, the PLoS Medicine Editors reflect on recent research and analysis in PLoS Medicine that highlights the need to fully evaluate rapid and convenient diagnostics. They argue that while rapidly determining the cause of an illness is important, speed and convenience alone are not enough to significantly change health outcomes. In a research article published earlier in the month, Augustine Choko and colleagues assess the uptake and accuracy of home-based supervised oral HIV self-testing in Malawi, demonstrating the feasibility of this approach in a high-prevalence, low-income environment. Their findings indicate that there is strong community readiness to adopt self-testing alongside other HIV counseling and testing strategies in high HIV prevalence settings in urban Africa. Rochelle Walensky and Ingrid Bassett suggest in an accompanying Perspective article that linkage to care must be demonstrated before the success of oral HIV self-testing can be determined, commenting that “beyond making care accessible, the next phase of self-testing feasibility studies must evaluate the completion of the care cascade from testing to treatment to demonstrate true self-testing success.”
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Editorial
Speed and Convenience Aren't Everything with Diagnostics
PLOS Medicine: published October 25, 2011 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001113
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Essay
Do Health and Forensic DNA Databases Increase Racial Disparities?
PLOS Medicine: published October 4, 2011 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001100
Perspective
HIV Self-testing and the Missing Linkage
PLOS Medicine: published October 4, 2011 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001101
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Closing the Policy-Practice Gap in the Management of Child Contacts of Tuberculosis Cases in Developing Countries
PLOS Medicine: published October 11, 2011 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001105
Educating a New Generation of Doctors to Improve the Health of Populations in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
PLOS Medicine: published October 18, 2011 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001108
Research Articles
The Uptake and Accuracy of Oral Kits for HIV Self-Testing in High HIV Prevalence Setting: A Cross-Sectional Feasibility Study in Blantyre, Malawi
PLOS Medicine: published October 4, 2011 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001102
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Estimating Infection Attack Rates and Severity in Real Time during an Influenza Pandemic: Analysis of Serial Cross-Sectional Serologic Surveillance Data
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Mortality and Hospital Stay Associated with Resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli Bacteremia: Estimating the Burden of Antibiotic Resistance in Europe
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The Effect of Chromosome 9p21 Variants on Cardiovascular Disease May Be Modified by Dietary Intake: Evidence from a Case/Control and a Prospective Study
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Mendelian Randomization Study of B-Type Natriuretic Peptide and Type 2 Diabetes: Evidence of Causal Association from Population Studies
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PLOS Medicine: published October 25, 2011 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001110