The division of AIDS was established at National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in the year 1995. Prior to this it had existed as AIDS Reference Laboratory since 1985, one of the first reference centers in India, which started surveillance of HIV- infection in the Country.

Presently the division has expanded to include multifarious activities. Units that are functioning at AIDS Division, can be outlined as follows:

1. National Reference Centre HIV / AIDS

2. Quality Control Unit

3. Immunology Unit

4. Opportunistic Infections Unit

5. Sexually transmitted diseases Unit

6. Molecular Biology Unit

7. Voluntary Counseling and Testing Centre

1. National Reference Centre for HIV / AIDS (incorporating HIV serology Unit).

   
   

   

   
   

   • National Reference Centre for HIV / AIDS is functioning since 1985.

   • Reference service provides include confirmation of serological test results generated by surveillance centres as per the National HIV testing guidelines

   • Routine surveillance of various risk groups for HIV infections

   1. Routine and ongoing screening of foreign students and foreign tourists who come to India.

   2. STD patients referred from various hospitals

   3. Surveillance of some special risk groups of patients, carried out from time to time e.g. Tuberculosis, Kala-azar, Leprosy, and Drugs Abusers, etc.

2. Quality Control Unit:

   
   

   

   
   

   National quality control services are provided through:

   1. Cross-checking of results of serological tests carried out by surveillance centres/blood banks of the States. In case of default test errors are identified and rectified. Appropriate training to the defaulting Centre is provided as per the requirement.

   2. Conducting EQAS (External Quality Assurance Service) for the VCTC / blood banks.

   3. For this sera panel are prepared, coded & dispatched to the participating VCTC / blood banks.

   4. Serological tests carried out on coded samples and results generated by the participating centres are sent back and evaluated, in terms of the number of false positives and false negatives.

   • Participation in International Quality Assurance Programme conducted by WHO Collaborating Centre functioning at Australia, to maintain Internationally accredited status as National Reference Center.

3. Immunology Unit:

   
   

   

   
   

   • Study of immune profile in HIV infected / AIDS patients to monitor progression of disease and response to antirectroviral therapy.

   • Study of immune parameters of prognostic significance and determination of stage of illness thereby helping the clinicians also to find out response to therapy. The investigations include CD4/CD8 count, study of Th₁ /Th₂ specific cytokine profile, p24 antigen assay, serum estimation of neopterin and Beta-2 microglobulin & viral load assay.

4. Opportunistic Infection Unit:

   
   

   

   
   

   • Diagnostic services are provided for AIDS associated infections prevalent in India.

   • Diagnostic services are provided for opportunistic parasitic and other pathogens that may affect AIDS case

5. Sexually Transmitted Diseases Unit:

   • Aetiological diagnostic services with counseling are provided for common sexually transmitted infections. These include syphilis, gonorrhoea, chancroid, donovanosis, chalmydiosis etc.

   • Serological diagnostic testing for HbsAg, HCV, HSV-1 syphilis & HSV-2 is also provided.

6. Molecular Biology Unit:

   
   

   

   
   

   The Services provided includes:

   • Molecular diagnosis of suspected HIV infected cases by PCR.

   • Sequencing studies of HIV-strains circulating in India

7. Voluntary Counseling and Testing Centre:

   The various categories of persons having different risk behaviours, who report to NICD for HIV testing are given pre-test, post test and continuum of counseling, as per individual case merit. There is a NGO run Voluntary Testing and Counseling Center in the Division, which is funded by National AIDS Control Organisation, Government of India.

   The experts at AIDS Division provide counseling for HIV positive individuals.

Besides the above functional units, the division has the following important activities:

8. Training and Manpower Development

   • Training for medical and supportive personnel from all over India in the field of laboratory diagnosis of HIV infection and biosafety.

   • Regular visits by faculty members of AIDS Division to various states of India to conduct training workshops in the field of laboratory diagnosis of HIV infection and biosafety.

   • Training of midlevel supportive workers as well as faculty members in the field of quality control of HIV, HBV and HCV testing.

   • Formulation of guidelines for networking of National Quality Control Programme, holding meeting with the state AIDS programme Officers as well as microbiologists of institutions.

   • Visits to different states to evaluate HIV surveillance programmes. The Division of AIDS has been identified as Nodal Institution by National AIDS Control Organisation, Government of India to carry out this activity.

9. Manuals/documents prepared under National AIDS Control Programme

   • A "HIV Testing Manual" entitled "Laboratory diagnosis biosafety and quality control", has been brought out by NICD and distributed to Laboratory-In-Charges of the HIV Testing Laboratories as well as to Physicians all over India. This is a National document available with National Aids Control Organization (NACO), Govt. of India (GOI).

   • A manual on "Laboratory Diagnosis of Common Opportunistic Infections Associated with HIV/AIDS" has been brought out with the objectives of early and accurate diagnosis of infections associated with HIV/AIDS for timely therapeutic intervention as well as introduction of chemoprophylaxis and distributed all over India through Project Directors, State AIDS Control Societies.

   • A manual for Practicing "Quality Assurance Programme in HIV Testing Laboratories" has been prepared for NACO, Min. of Health & Family Welfare (MH & FW), and GOI.

   • Manual for "Evaluating Status of Blood Safety in Blood Banks" has been distributed to Officer-In-Charges of the Blood banks all over India.

   • Manual on "Standard Operative Procedures" for "quality control of HIV testing in Blood Bank". Distributed to Officer-In_Charges of Blood Banks all over India.

10. Storage and supply of HIV test kits

    The Division maintains three cold rooms for storage of HIV test kits. A total of 238 ZBTCs (Zonal Blood Testing Centres) and Sero-Surveillance Centres scattered in 9 (nine) different states of North India collect their HIV test kits from this Division. This is an ongoing activity on behalf of National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) since 1985.

11. Screening of blood product of human origin for HIV

    The blood products of human origin to be used in humans are tested for HIV for Drug Controller General of India.

12. Evaluation of HIV test kits

    ELISA and WESTERN BLOT kits that are distributed to various laboratories / surveillance centres / blood banks are evaluated for performance characteristics at AIDS DIV. NICD prior to their final release by Drug Controller General of India.

13. Research Projects

    • A field study of prevalence of STD in a slum area in Delhi.

    • A DBT project entitled "Study of immunological and virological markers in HIV-1 infection in relation to state and progression of diseases".

    • Study of chemokines e.g. RANTES, MIPa. MIPßetc. in relation to disease progression.

    • Field evaluation of rapid HIV test kits.

14. Secretarial staff