The evolution of CD4+ T cell cytometry in perspective: challenges for resource poor settings

CD4+ T cell cytometry antedated the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) epidemic. However it was in the wake of the HIV scourge that CD4+ T cell counting technology gradually evolved from a pure cellular research assay technique into a routine clinical diagnostic test. In the more than two and half decades of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, this cell based diagnostic test has undergone several phases of technological improvements in the efforts to produce cheaper and more robust equipment for the monitoring of patients. The evolution however, is still very much in progress. Resource poor countries that remain the worst hit by the scourge of HIV/AIDS are paradoxically usually the last to benefit from the impact of the technological advancements in CD4+ T cell cytometry. This review highlights the progress and the scientific milestones so far attained in the development of improved techniques for CD4+ T cells count as a major cornerstone of patient care, as well as the emerging future directions in the evolution of this important cellular diagnostic test. Some of the challenges for developing economies are highlighted.