Point-of-care diagnostics for HIV and tuberculosis: landscape, pipeline, and unmet needs

Early diagnosis and rapid initiation of treatment remains a key strategy to control both HIV and tuberculosis (TB). However, HIV and TB control programs have had completely contrasting successes, especially with the development and deployment of point-of-care (POC) diagnostics. Clinicians, researchers, and public health staff who work at the frontlines of HIV care and control have had access to an outstanding array of POC diagnostics at their disposal, including those used for screening, initial diagnosis, staging, treatment monitoring, and early infant diagnosis. The field has also advanced to consider over-the-counter, self-testing options for HIV and the use of multiplexed platforms that allow for simultaneous detection of infections associated with HIV. In sharp contrast to HIV, suboptimal and delayed diagnosis of TB has perpetuated the epidemic in many high-burden countries. Although the TB diagnostics pipeline is substantially better today than it was even five years ago, absence of a simple POC test continues to be a gaping hole in the pipeline. In this review, we compare the POC diagnostics landscape and pipelines for these two important infectious diseases, and highlight gaps and unmet needs.