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First CD-4 machine in State gets going

BERHAMPUR: The first CD-4 machine in the State started functioning at the Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) centre in the MKCG medical college on Thursday.

The renovation of the ART centre and its new facility of CD4 machine were formally inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on the medical college campus on Thursday afternoon during his visit to the district. This CD4 machine donated by the Clinton Foundation is a boon to AIDS patients of the State who are undergoing ART.

This machine has got its name from a glycoprotein on the surface of T4 cells in human body called Cluster of Differentiation 4(CD4).

The machine facilitates counting of T4 cells, which are special white blood cells or lymphocytes that are basis of our immune system. Enumeration of these cells in the body is done to monitor the extent of HIV infection in a person suffering from AIDS. The HIV, a retrovirus, destroys T4 lymphocytes. So the T4 cell count provided by the machine is a useful index to decide the dosage of drugs provided to a patient undergoing ART.

Due to lack of CD-4 machine treatment of HIV positive persons registering at the ART centre was getting delayed. Only after T4 cell count the HIV positive persons are provided ART.

The blood samples were earlier being sent to Kolkata for T4 cell counting.

This was resulting in long backlog of HIV-positive persons registered at this ART centre. A few months ago Lepra Society had started helping to clear this backlog of persons awaiting CD-4 test.

The Chief Minister inaugurated two new blocks for medicine and paediatric departments on the medical college campus. Although started as single storied structures these blocks would be shortly converted into four-storied buildings, said administrative officer of the medical college, Ranjan Sharma.

A similar new block for orthopaedic department is also under construction on the campus.

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