Prevalence of Sexually Transmitted Infections and Factors Associated with HIV Status Among Vulnerable Women in Northern Uganda: Baseline Results from Pe Atye Kena Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: HIV infection among vulnerable women (VW) has been attributed to unfavourable power relations and limited access to sexual and reproductive health information and services. This work aims to report sexually-transmitted infections (STI) prevalence and assess the impact of HIV awareness, demographic and socio-behavioural factors on HIV status in a rural area of northern Uganda. METHODS: Pe Atye Kena is a longitudinal cohort intervention study enrolling young women aged 18-49 years old living in the municipality of Gulu, Uganda. HIV, HBV, syphilis serologic tests, and a comprehensive electronic questionnaire on sexual high-risk behaviours were administered before intervention. In this work, we report baseline characteristics of the population along with factors associated with HIV status. Statistical analysis was performed by uni- and multivariable regression models. RESULTS: 461 VW were enrolled (mean age: 29 (SD7.7)). 40 (8.7%) were found to be positive for HIV, 42 (9.1%) for syphilis and 29 (6.3%) for HBV. Older age (> 34 years vs. < 24 years; OR 4.95, 95% CI: 1.7 to 14); having done the last HIV test > 12m before the interview (OR 5.21, 95% CI: 2.3 to 11); suspecting the male sexual partner to be HIV+ (OR 2.2; 95% CI: 1.1 to 4.3); not having used condom at first sexual intercourse (OR 2.6; 95% CI 1.3 to 5.15) were all factors associated with an incident HIV diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: In this cohort, HIV prevalence is high, and sexual high-risk behaviours are multifaced; future interventions will be aimed to reduce HIV/STIs misconceptions and to promote a sense of community, self-determination and female empowerment.

Point-of-Care Lung Ultrasound findings in novel coronavirus disease-19 pnemoniae: a case report and potential applications during COVID-19 outbreak.

An outbreak of a novel coronavirus disease-19 (nCoV-19) infection began in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and now involved the whole word. Several health workers have been infected in different countries. We report the case of a young man with documented nCoV-19 infection evaluated with lung ultrasound and discuss potential applications of lung ultrasound in this setting. Lung ultrasound allowed the identification of nCoV-19 infection at bed-side. Moreover, lung ultrasound can have several other advantages, such as reduced health worker exposition to infected patients, repeatability during follow-up, low-costs and easier application in low-resource settings.

Moderate influenza vaccine effectiveness against hospitalisation with A(H3N2) and A(H1N1) influenza in 2013-14: Results from the InNHOVE network.

We conducted a multicentre test negative case control study to estimate the 2013-14 influenza vaccine effectiveness (IVE) against hospitalised laboratory confirmed influenza in 12 hospitals in France, Italy and Spain. We included all ≥18 years hospitalised patients targeted by local influenza vaccination campaign reporting an influenza-like illness within 7 days before admission. We defined as cases patients RT-PCR positive for influenza and as controls those negative for all influenza virus. We used a logistic regression to calculate IVE adjusted for country, month of onset, chronic diseases and age. We included 104 A(H1N1)pdm09, 157 A(H3N2) cases and 585 controls. The adjusted IVE was 42.8% (95%CI: 6.3;65;0) against A(H1N1)pdm09. It was respectively 61.4% (95%CI: -1.9;85.4), 39.4% (95%CI: -32.2;72.2) and 19.7% (95%CI:-148.1;74.0) among patients aged 18-64, 65-79 and ≥80 years. The adjusted IVE against A(H3N2) was 38.1% (95%CI: 8.3;58.2) overall. It was respectively 7.8% (95%CI: -145.3;65.4), 25.6% (95%CI: -36.0;59.2) and 55.2% (95%CI: 15.4;76.3) among patients aged 18-64, 65-79 and ≥80 years. These results suggest a moderate and age varying effectiveness of the 2013-14 influenza vaccine to prevent hospitalised laboratory-confirmed influenza. While vaccination remains the most effective prevention measure, developing more immunogenic influenza vaccines is needed to prevent severe outcomes among target groups.

2012/13 influenza vaccine effectiveness against hospitalised influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, A(H3N2) and B: estimates from a European network of hospitals.

While influenza vaccines aim to decrease the incidence of severe influenza among high-risk groups, evidence of influenza vaccine effectiveness (IVE) among the influenza vaccine target population is sparse. We conducted a multicentre test-negative case-control study to estimate IVE against hospitalised laboratory-confirmed influenza in the target population in 18 hospitals in France, Italy, Lithuania and the Navarre and Valencia regions in Spain. All hospitalised patients aged ≥18 years, belonging to the target population presenting with influenza-like illness symptom onset within seven days were swabbed. Patients positive by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction for influenza virus were cases and those negative were controls. Using logistic regression, we calculated IVE for each influenza virus subtype and adjusted it for month of symptom onset, study site, age and chronic conditions. Of the 1,972 patients included, 116 were positive for influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, 58 for A(H3N2) and 232 for influenza B. Adjusted IVE was 21.3% (95% confidence interval (CI): -25.2 to 50.6; n=1,628), 61.8% (95% CI: 26.8 to 80.0; n=557) and 43.1% (95% CI: 21.2 to 58.9; n=1,526) against influenza A(H1N1) pdm09, A(H3N2) and B respectively. Our results suggest that the 2012/13 IVE was moderate against influenza A(H3N2) and B and low against influenza A(H1N1) pdm09.

Hospital-acquired candidemia in HIV-infected patients. Incidence, risk factors and predictors of outcome.

A retrospective case-control study was performed to analyze hospital-acquired candidemia in HIV-positive patients. To understand the impact of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) on the incidence of nosocomial candidemia, two time periods were compared: A (1992-1996) and B (1997-2001). 32 out of 38 (84%) cases of candidemia were hospital-related. A significant reduction in the incidence of all cases of hospital-acquired candidemia has been observed in the post-HAART in respect to pre-HAART period (0.09 episodes vs. 1.1 per 100/py). Multivariate analysis showed that the presence of central venous catheter was the only variable independently associated with the development of nosocomial candidemia. The overall mortality rate was 59%. Univariate analysis indicated three prognostic indicators: presence of concomitant opportunistic infections, isolation of non-albicans Candida species; neutropenia. Multivariate analysis of prognostic indicators showed that isolation of non-albicans Candida species is the only independent variable. Despite the use of HAART, this disease still represents a severe complication of advanced stage of AIDS.

Impact of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) on the incidence of bacterial infections in HIV-infected subjects.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) on the incidence of bacterial infections in HIV-infected patients. Two time periods were compared: (A) January 1992-December 1995 (before HAART) and (B) January 1997-December 2000 (after HAART). During the study periods, we observed 931 patients with bacterial infections, i.e. 322 with bacteremia, 369 with bacterial pneumonia and 240 with urinary tract infections, out of 4,242 HIV-infected subjects admitted to the Department of Infectious Diseases of a large university hospital. By comparing the overall incidence of bacterial infections during periods A and B, a statistically significant difference, from 32% to 18% (p<0.01), was observed. Analysis of risk factors of community- and hospital-acquired bacterial infections did not significantly differ in the two study periods. This study establishes that a significant reduction in bacterial infection incidence occurred in HIV-infected subjects when HAART became the standard therapy for HIV infection.

Nosocomial bacterial pneumonia in human immunodeficiency virus infected subjects: incidence, risk factors and outcome.

The presented study examined the incidence, risk factors and outcome of nosocomial bacterial pneumonia (NBP) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected subjects. Forty-two cases of NBP were ascertained by a 5-yr prospective surveillance and were matched to 84 controls. NBP incidence was 10.8 per 10,000 hospital patient-days. In particular, the incidence of NBP was 13.9 per 10,000 patient-days in the period 1994-1996 and 5.6 per 10,000 patient-days in the period 1997-1998 (p=0.01). By using regression analysis, predictors for developing NBP were an increasing value of Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) III score (p<0.01) and the presence of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related central nervous system (CNS) diseases (p=0.01). The additional hospital stay attributable to NBP was 15 days. The attributable mortality rate was estimated to be 29%. Nosocomial bacterial pneumonia is more common in patients with advanced human immunodeficiency virus infection, high Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation III score and central nervous system diseases. Although the incidence of nosocomial bacterial pneumonia, as well of other opportunistic infections, decreased considerably in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy, it still represents an important cause of mortality.

Effect of highly active antiretroviral therapy on the incidence of bacterial pneumonia in HIV-infected subjects.

The aim of the study was to assess the incidence of hospital and community acquired bacterial pneumonia in HIV-infected subjects prior to and after the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). We studied 266 patients with bacterial pneumonia over two separate periods, 154 in the first period and 112 in the second period. A statistically significant difference in the incidence of bacterial pneumonia in the two study periods was observed ranging from 13.1 to 8.5 episodes per 100 persons. The incidence of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia decreased from 10.7 to 7.7 (P=0.01), while that of nosocomial episodes decreased from 2.4 to 0.8 episodes (P=0.003). Low levels of peripheral CD(4+) cells (<100/mm(3)) and intravenous drug abuse (IVDA) were significantly associated with the development of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia, while an increasing value of APACHE III score and prolonged hospitalisation increased the risk of nosocomial bacterial pneumonia in both study periods.

Morbidity associated with central venous catheter-use in a cohort of 212 hospitalized subjects with HIV infection.

Technical complications and nosocomial bloodstream infections associated with short-term central venous catheterization remain a heavy burden in terms of morbidity, mortality and cost in HIV-positive subjects. Between 1994 and 1997, 327 central venous catheters (CVCs) inserted in 212 patients for a total of 5005 catheter days were investigated. Forty-two technical complications (13%) occurred in 40 patients. Logistic regression analysis revealed that a high APACHE III score was associated with development of CVC-related complications (P = 0.01). One hundred and eight of 327 CVCs (33%) were suspected as being infected. However only 61 episodes (61/327, 19%) were finally diagnosed as CVC-related sepsis. Three variables affecting the rate of CVC-related sepsis were identified: 1) administration of TPN (P = 0.01); 2) low number of circulating CD4+ cells (P = 0.04); 3) high APACHE III score (P = 0. 04). Doctors responsible for AIDS patients should carefully consider the relative risks and benefits of CVC insertion in an individual patient.

Candidemia in HIV-infected subjects.

The epidemiological features of 37 episodes of candidemia in HIV-infected subjects were analysed in a retrospective matched case-control study conducted over an 8-year period (1990-1997). Univariate analysis identified eight risk factors that were significantly associated with candidemia (P<0.05): i) use of central venous catheters; ii) administration of total parenteral nutrition; iii) previous antifungal therapy; iv) previous therapy with glycopeptides; v) presence of oral/ esophageal candidiasis; vi) concomitant bacterial infections; vii) neutropenia; and viii) concomitant AIDS dementia complex. Stepwise logistic regression analysis revealed that the only independent risk factor for developing candidemia was the use of central venous catheters (P = 0.0001). Candida albicans was the most frequently isolated pathogen, accounting for 18 (48%) episodes of candidemia, followed by Candida tropicalis (19%) and Candida glabrata (11%). The crude mortality rate was 62%. On univariate analysis concomitant opportunistic infections, presence of non-Candida albicans species of Candida and neutropenia were shown to be predictive of death. Multivariate analysis revealed that the presence of non-Candida albicans strains of Candida was the only significant factor associated with a worse prognosis (P = 0.001). In conclusion, candidemia appears to be more common in patients with advanced HIV disease. Of the factors which influenced the onset of candidemia, use of central venous catheters seemed to be the most important one.

[Central venous catheter-related sepsis: one year experience in a large university hospital] / Sepsi in pazienti con cateteri venosi centrali: un anno di esperienza in un policlinico universitario.

Five hundred two central venous catheters (CVC) inserted in 366 patients were evaluated prospectively over a one-year period to determine the frequency and risk factors associated with CVC-related sepsis. A CVC-related infection was suspected in 190 cases (190/502, 38%). A catheter-related sepsis was established in 50 patients (10%). The infection rate was 0.8 cases of sepsis per 100 catheterdays. Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida spp. were the most frequently isolated etiological agents of sepsis. On univariate analysis, six variables affecting the rate of catheter-related sepsis were identified: neutropenia > 8 days (p < 0.01); AIDS (p < 0.001); haematological malignancies (p < 0.001); total parenteral nutrition (p = 0.001); duration of site use (p = 0.04); high APACHE II score (p = 0.04). The logistic regression analysis revealed that AIDS and haematological malignancies were independent risk factors of catheter-related sepsis. In conclusion, although the incidence of established catheter infection is much lower than the incidence of suspected infection, in most cases it is wise to change the catheter with the guidewire technique and wait for culture of the tip, rather than to remove the catheter immediately.

[Bacterial pneumonia in HIV-infected patients] / Polmoniti batteriche in corso di infezioni da HIV.

This case-control study assessed risk factors and prognostic indicators of 350 episodes of bacterial pneumonia in 285 HIV-infected patients. On univariate analysis, intravenous drug abuse (p<0.001), regular cigarette smoking (p<0.001), cirrhosis (p=0.04), and history of a previous episode of pneumonia (p=0.04), were risk factors for community-acquired episodes of bacterial pneumonia, whereas length of hospitalization (p=0.01) was a risk factor only for nosocomial bacterial pneumonia. The small amount of circulating T CD4+ cells, (<100/mmc) was a risk factor in both groups of pneumonia (p<0.05). Stepwise logistic regression analysis revealed that IVDA in community-acquired episodes and low levels of circulating T CD4+ cells, both in community-acquired and hospital-acquired episodes, were independent risk factors for the development of bacterial pneumonia. The case-fatality rate observed in our study was 27%. On stepwise logistic regression analysis, T CD4+ cell counts >100/mmc (p<0.02), neutropenia (p=0.04), PO2 arterial level <70 mmHg (p=0.01), and Karnofsky score <50 (p=0.04) were independent indicators of mortality. According to a personally developed prognostic score, 211 episodes of pneumonia (60%) were classified as mild, 63 (18%) as moderate, and 76 (22%) as severe. Clinicians must carefully evaluate those variables that can influence the prognosis of bacterial pneumonia to make early identification of affected patients and to promptly establish the most appropriate therapeutic strategy in each case.