Early combination therapy with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin reduces mortality in 10,429 COVID-19 outpatients.

We evaluated the age-specific mortality of unselected adult outpatients infected with SARS-CoV-2 treated early in a dedicated COVID-19 day hospital and we assessed whether the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) + azithromycin (AZ) was associated with improved survival in this cohort. A retrospective monocentric cohort study was conducted in the day hospital of our center from March to December 2020 in adults with PCR-proven infection who were treated as outpatients with a standardized protocol. The primary endpoint was 6-week mortality, and secondary endpoints were transfer to the intensive care unit and hospitalization rate. Among 10,429 patients (median age, 45 [IQR 32-57] years; 5597 [53.7%] women), 16 died (0.15%). The infection fatality rate was 0.06% among the 8315 patients treated with HCQ+AZ. No deaths occurred among the 8414 patients younger than 60 years. Older age and male sex were associated with a higher risk of death, ICU transfer, and hospitalization. Treatment with HCQ+AZ (0.17 [0.06-0.48]) was associated with a lower risk of death, independently of age, sex and epidemic period. Meta-analysis evidenced consistency with 4 previous outpatient studies (32,124 patients-Odds ratio 0.31 [0.20-0.47], I2 = 0%). Early ambulatory treatment of COVID-19 with HCQ+AZ as a standard of care is associated with very low mortality, and HCQ+AZ improve COVID-19 survival compared to other regimens.

Early treatment of COVID-19 patients with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin: A retrospective analysis of 1061 cases in Marseille, France.

BACKGROUND: In France, the combination hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and azithromycin (AZ) is used in the treatment of COVID-19. METHODS: We retrospectively report on 1061 SARS-CoV-2 positive tested patients treated for at least three days with the following regimen: HCQ (200 mg three times daily for ten days) + AZ (500 mg on day 1 followed by 250 mg daily for the next four days). Outcomes were death, clinical worsening (transfer to ICU, and >10 day hospitalization) and viral shedding persistence (>10 days). RESULTS: A total of 1061 patients were included in this analysis (46.4% male, mean age 43.6 years - range 14-95 years). Good clinical outcome and virological cure were obtained in 973 patients within 10 days (91.7%). Prolonged viral carriage was observed in 47 patients (4.4%) and was associated to a higher viral load at diagnosis (p < .001) but viral culture was negative at day 10. All but one, were PCR-cleared at day 15. A poor clinical outcome (PClinO) was observed for 46 patients (4.3%) and 8 died (0.75%) (74-95 years old). All deaths resulted from respiratory failure and not from cardiac toxicity. Five patients are still hospitalized (98.7% of patients cured so far). PClinO was associated with older age (OR 1.11), severity of illness at admission (OR 10.05) and low HCQ serum concentration. PClinO was independently associated with the use of selective beta-blocking agents and angiotensin II receptor blockers (p < .05). A total of 2.3% of patients reported mild adverse events (gastrointestinal or skin symptoms, headache, insomnia and transient blurred vision). CONCLUSION: Administration of the HCQ+AZ combination before COVID-19 complications occur is safe and associated with a very low fatality rate in patients.

Emergence of uncommon HIV-1 non-B subtypes and circulating recombinant forms and trends in transmission of antiretroviral drug resistance in patients with primary infection during the 2013-2015 period in Marseille, Southeastern France.

Primary HIV-1 infections (PHI) with non-B subtypes are increasing in developed countries while transmission of HIV-1 harboring antiretroviral resistance-associated mutations (RAMs) remains a concern. This study assessed non-B HIV-1 subtypes and RAMs prevalence among patients with PHI in university hospitals of Marseille, Southeastern France, in 2005-2015 (11 years). HIV-1 sequences were obtained by in-house protocols from 115 patients with PHI, including 38 for the 2013-2015 period. On the basis of the phylogenetic analysis of the reverse transcriptase region, non-B subtypes were identified in 31% of these patients. They included 3 different subtypes (3A, 1C, 4F), 23 circulating recombinant forms (CRFs) (CRF02_AG, best BLAST hits being CRF 36_cpx and CRF30 in 7 and 1 cases, respectively), and 5 unclassified sequences (U). Non-B subtypes proportion increased significantly, particularly in 2011-2013 vs in 2005-2010 (P = .03). CRF02_AG viruses largely predominated in 2005-2013 whereas atypical strains more difficult to classify and undetermined recombinants emerged recently (2014-2015). The prevalence of protease, nucleos(t)ide reverse transcriptase, and first-generation nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors-associated RAMs were 1.7% (World Health Organization [WHO] list, 2009/2.6% International AIDS Society [IAS] list, 2017), 5.2%/4.3%, and 5.2%/5.2%, respectively. Etravirine/rilpivirine-associated RAM (IAS) prevalence was 4.3%. Men who have sex with men (MSM) were more frequently infected with drug-resistant viruses than other patients (26% vs 7%; P = .011). The recent increase of these rare HIV-1 strains and the spread of drug-resistant HIV-1 among MSM in Southeastern France might be considered when implementing prevention strategies and starting therapies.

Evaluation of self-collected rectal swabs for the detection of bacteria responsible for sexually transmitted infections in a cohort of HIV-1-infected patients.

Purpose. The standard approach to screening sexually transmitted infections (STIs) has often been restricted to urogenital specimens. Most current guidelines, however, also recommend testing extra-genital sites, including rectal locations, because asymptomatic rectal carriage of pathogens has often been reported. The aim of our study was to evaluate self-collected rectal swabs to screen bacterial STIs in HIV-infected patients in Marseille, France.Methodology. Between January 2014 and December 2015, 118 HIV-infected patients (93 males and 25 females) agreed to self-sample anal swabs for detection of bacterial STI. Detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis, Treponema pallidum, Mycoplasma genitalium and Haemophilus ducreyi was performed using in-house qPCR assay.Results/Key findings. Bacterial STIs were found in 8 % (9/118) of the patients. C. trachomatis was the most commonly detected bacterium (4.2 %) followed by N. gonorrhoeae (2.5 %), M. genitalium (1.7 %) and T. pallidum (0.8 %). All the positive patients were males. The rectal carriage of pathogenic bacteria was fortuitously discovered for seven men (78 %) who did not present rectal signs of STIs and was suspected for two men who presented proctitis (22 %).Conclusion. In conclusion, testing extra-genital sites is crucial for the diagnosis of STIs in men and women presenting or not concomitant urogenital infections in order to detect asymptomatic carriage with the aim of controlling and preventing transmission to their sexual partners.