The Doctor José Molina Orosa University Hospital has implemented in the Emergency service a program for the early detection of patients with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), in which the Laboratory service and the Infectious Diseases unit of Internal Medicine participate.
From Health they detail that this program is part of the recommendations of the Spanish Society of Emergency and Emergency Medicine, and its main objective is "the prevention and rapid and early diagnosis of the infection, so that patients with HIV access antiretroviral treatment as soon as possible and reduce the risk of transmission of the virus".
The Emergency service has developed a protocol that allows the request for an HIV serological test in an automated way, always with the patient's consent, to those people with a predetermined profile who are considered at risk of suffering from the disease. These patients are treated for pathologies such as pneumonia, mononucleosis syndrome, Herpes Zoster, consumption of toxic substances, hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections, as well as patients who report risky practices and request Post Exposure Prophylaxis.
The analysis is derived as non-urgent to Microbiology for study and, once the results are obtained in cases of being positive for HIV, patients will be cited by the specialists of the Infectious Diseases consultation to begin the appropriate treatment.
The head of the Emergency service of the Lanzarote hospital center, Emilio Martínez, values this type of screening as "very positive." “It can be key to improving the rate of diagnoses, since consultations derived from diseases or ailments that could be related to the virus are frequent”.
In this way, from Health they assure that "a greater early detection of HIV" is achieved and the patients diagnosed after passing through the Emergency Room, in addition to entering the circuit for their treatment, by becoming aware of the disease, "increase precautions so the transmission of the virus is reduced."
For his part, the manager of the Health Services of the Lanzarote Health Area, José Luis Aparicio, highlights the collaboration of the three hospital services, Internal Medicine, Laboratory and Emergency, as "an example of coordinated work in the face of a disease that continues to be a real health problem throughout the world such as HIV."
