1985 World Health Organization AIDS surveillance case definition

none The 1985 World Health Organization AIDS surveillance case definition (often called the Bangui definition) was developed in October 1985, at a conference of public health officials including representatives of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) in Bangui, Central African Republic. It was developed as a criteria for disease surveillance in nine African nations where testing for HIV antibodies was not widely available at the time. The criteria was eventually adopted by various agencies in over 50 countries. The report emphasized the importance of developing cheap, reliable, and simple serological tests for diagnosis of HIV and surveillance of the virus.Workshop on AIDS in Central Africa 1985 - Bangui October 25, 1985 Workshop on AIDS in Central Africa, Bangui, Central African Republic, 22 to 25 October 1985 https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/60154 World Health Organization English Purpose and use For more information see: HIV/AIDS, History of HIV/AIDS, Timeline of HIV/AIDS The HIV virus first emerged in the 1920s in the Belgian Congo (Now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) near Kinshasa.Aids: Origin of pandemic 'was 1920s Kinshasa' https://www.bbc.com/news/health-29442642 https://web.archive.org/web/20220606213004/https://www.bbc.com/news/health-29442642 2022-06-06 2026-04-14 BBC News en-GB Danish physician and surgeon Grethe Rask began experiencing the symptoms of AIDS in 1975.Bygbjerg I. C. 1983-04-23 AIDS IN A DANISH SURGEON (ZAIRE, 1976) https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(83)91348-X/abstract The Lancet English 321 8330 925 10.1016/S0140-6736(83)91348-X 0140-6736 subscription By June 1981, the Centers for Disease Control in the United States began reporting on cancer clusters1981-06-05 Pneumocystis Pneumonia -- Los Angeles 1981 https://stacks.cdc.gov/ 2026-04-14 stacks.cdc.gov which would later be determined to be complications due to HIV. In March 1985, the FDA approved the first HIV test (an ELISA based test). By April 1987, a Western blot test was developed to confirm the results of an ELISA test for HIV (then called LAV/HTLV-III/ARV).Preparing to download ... https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/instance/1478072/pdf/pubhealthrep00170-0036.pdf 2026-04-14 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov For developing countries, HIV surveillance was difficult. Many medical laboratories lacked electricity, making ELISA testing difficult due to a lack of light, refrigeration, and humidity control.Workshop on AIDS in Central Africa 1985 - Bangui October 25, 1985 Workshop on AIDS in Central Africa, Bangui, Central African Republic, 22 to 25 October 1985 https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/60154 World Health Organization Conference Paper English World Health OrganizationNicoll A Killewo J 1991-11-09 AIDS surveillance in Africa. https://www.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136/bmj.303.6811.1151 BMJ en 303 6811 1151–1152 10.1136/bmj.303.6811.1151 0959-8138 1671466 1747607 Following a conference of medical professionals from Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), the criteria were developed. In October 1985, only three facilities in those nine nations could perform the recently developed HIV ELISA test. The Pasteur Institute in Burundi, the Institut National pour la Recherche Biomedicale in the DRC, and Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville in Gabon. The most accurate method to monitoring the spread of a diseases is a serological survey. However, this method was impractical in a number of nations due to the number of cases, and lack of equipment and funds.Colebunders R. L. Braun M. M. Nzila N. Dikilu K. Muepu K. Ryder R. 1989-11-01 Evaluation of the World Health Organization Clinical Case Definition of AIDS among Tuberculosis Patients in Kinshasa, Zaire https://academic.oup.com/jid/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/infdis/160.5.902 Journal of Infectious Diseases en 160 5 902–903 10.1093/infdis/160.5.902 0022-1899 subscription Colebunders R. L. Braun M. M. Nzila N. Dikilu K. Muepu K. Ryder R. 1989-11-01 Evaluation of the World Health Organization Clinical Case Definition of AIDS among Tuberculosis Patients in Kinshasa, Zaire https://academic.oup.com/jid/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/infdis/160.5.902 Journal of Infectious Diseases en 160 5 902–903 10.1093/infdis/160.5.902 0022-1899 subscription The Bangui definition was distributed after the conference as a method of identifying persons who were potentially seropositive for disease surveillance. The protocol reportedly between 60% and 90% effective in identifying persons with HIV. The criteria was left open a possible false positive for patients suffering from tuberculosis, however, the exclusion of "chronic cough" category significantly decreased that chance. A study of deceased patients in Kinshasa between 1988 and 1991 found that 64 of 68 patients who meet the WHO's Bangui definition were seropositive.Nelson Ann Marie Perriëns Joseph H. Kapita Bila Okonda Longengo Lusamuno Nkebe Kalengayi Mbowa R. Angritt Peter Quinn Thomas C. Mullick Florabel G. September 1, 1993 A clinical and pathological comparison of the WHO and CDC case definitions for AIDS in Kinshasa, Zaïre: is passive surveillance valid? http://journals.lww.com/00002030-199309000-00014 AIDS en 7 9 1241–1246 10.1097/00002030-199309000-00014 0269-9370 subscription A similar study in Uganda in 1988 found 83% of patients who meet the criteria were positive for HIV.Widy-Wirski Roslaw 1988-12-09 Evaluation of the WHO Clinical Case Definition for AIDS in Uganda http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jama.1988.03410220070030 JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association en 260 22 3286 10.1001/jama.1988.03410220070030 0098-7484 subscription The criteria was updated in 1993 to include a low CD4+ T lymphocytes cell count.1994-04-06 Update: Impact of the Expanded AIDS Surveillance Case Definition for Adolescents and Adults on Case Reporting—United States, 1993 http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jama.1994.03510370028011 JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association en 271 13 976 10.1001/jama.1994.03510370028011 0098-7484 subscription Criteria The diagnosis of AIDS is established when the score is 12 or higher. Exclusion criteria: Pronounced malnutrition Cancer Immunosuppressive treatment Inclusion criteria with the corresponding scoreScoreImportant signsWeight loss exceeding 10% of body weight4Protracted asthenia4Very frequent signsContinuous or repeated attacks of fever for more than a month3Diarrhoea lasting for more than a month3Other signsCough (often excluded)2Pneumopathy2Oropharyngeal candidiasis4Chronic or relapsing cutaneous herpes4Generalized pruritic dermatosis4Herpes zoster (relapsing)4Generalized adenopathy2Neurological signs2Generalized Kaposi's sarcoma12 References Category:World Health Organization Category:History of HIV/AIDS Category:1985 establishments