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Home>Home Page Articles>Filling a Gap for HIV Patients in Remote Regions

Filling a Gap for HIV Patients in Remote Regions
Muse® Auto CD4/CD4% System


Tackling Global Challenges - Creating a culture of responsibility. Ribbon-cutting ceremony at our new Biomass Heat Plant in Jaffrey, New Hampshire.
Professor Mbopi Keou, Chair of the Department of Pathology at the University of Yaounde in Cameroon and a leading authority on infectious disease in West Africa, with the Muse® system. The university conducted product research and clinical trials for the system.

Tackling Global Challenges - Creating a culture of responsibility. Ribbon-cutting ceremony at our new Biomass Heat Plant in Jaffrey, New Hampshire.
Jim Mulry (left), Clinical Development Manager, Merck, with the Muse® system in the new mobile lab that will travel to clinics and hospitals throughout South Africa.
An estimated 35 million people worldwide are living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Most of them reside in remote regions, including much of Africa, where hospitals and laboratories are scarce. Too often, patients can’t get access to the care they need – including the regular monitoring of disease progression that is critical for the successful treatment of HIV.

We’re helping to fill this health care gap. We’ve modified our innovative, award-winning Muse® cell analyzer technology for a vital clinical application: T-cell monitoring in the field, where patients live and work.

Our new Muse® Auto CD4/CD4% system is already being used in selected regions of the developing world where HIV is widespread, giving health care workers in remote or underserved locations a reliable, easy-to-use method to help with the clinical management of HIV. And we recently announced our intention to launch the system throughout Africa.

Monitoring patients’ T-lymphocyte cell counts is essential for the successful treatment of HIV, because T-cell counts can determine when to initiate antiretroviral therapy and begin treatment for the opportunistic infections characteristic of HIV.

There are lots of test methods on the market for this application, but the Muse® CD4 instrument is unique in that it is small, portable and very easy to operate – and therefore is extremely convenient for use in clinics in remote villages. The new instrument is also one of the few systems that is adapted to monitor cells in pediatric patients as well as adults, helping fulfill our commitment to improving the lives of children.

"Many HIV patients in developing countries can’t get to cities or hospitals. Clinicians in the field in many remote areas now have easy access to high-quality flow cytometry – at their fingertips."
—Jim Mulry, Clinical Development Manager, Merck

"This is a great example of Merck’s life science business taking a novel, leading-edge technology and making it applicable for something even bigger than research."
—Louise Rollins, Product Manager, Cell Analysis, Merck
Visit www.merckmillipore.com/muse