C-reactive protein as a potential biomarker for disease progression in dengue: a multi-country observational study.

BACKGROUND: Dengue infection can cause a wide spectrum of clinical outcomes. The severe clinical manifestations occur sufficiently late in the disease course, during day 4-6 of illness, to allow a window of opportunity for risk stratification. Markers of inflammation may be useful biomarkers. We investigated the value of C-reactive protein (CRP) measured early on illness days 1-3 to predict dengue disease outcome and the difference in CRP levels between dengue and other febrile illnesses (OFI). METHOD: We performed a nested case-control study using the clinical data and samples collected from the IDAMS-consortium multi-country study. This was a prospective multi-center observational study that enrolled almost 8000 participants presenting with a dengue-like illness to outpatient facilities in 8 countries across Asia and Latin America. Predefined severity definitions of severe and intermediate dengue were used as the primary outcomes. A total of 281 cases with severe/intermediate dengue were compared to 836 uncomplicated dengue patients as controls (ratio 1:3), and also 394 patients with OFI. RESULTS: In patients with confirmed dengue, median (interquartile range) of CRP level within the first 3 days was 30.2 mg/L (12.4-61.2 mg/L) (uncomplicated dengue, 28.6 (10.5-58.9); severe or intermediate dengue, 34.0 (17.4-71.8)). Higher CRP levels in the first 3 days of illness were associated with a higher risk of severe or intermediate outcome (OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.07-1.29), especially in children. Higher CRP levels, exceeding 30 mg/L, also associated with hospitalization (OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.14-1.64) and longer fever clearance time (HR 0.84, 95% CI 0.76-0.93), especially in adults. CRP levels in patients with dengue were higher than patients with potential viral infection but lower than patients with potential bacterial infection, resulting in a quadratic association between dengue diagnosis and CRP, with levels of approximately 30 mg/L associated with the highest risk of having dengue. CRP had a positive correlation with total white cell count and neutrophils and negative correlation with lymphocytes, but did not correlate with liver transaminases, albumin, or platelet nadir. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, CRP measured in the first 3 days of illness could be a useful biomarker for early dengue risk prediction and may assist differentiating dengue from other febrile illnesses.

Dengue-Associated Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome, Vietnam.

Dengue can cause neurologic complications in addition to the more common manifestations of plasma leakage and coagulopathy. Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome has rarely been described in dengue, although the pathophysiology of endothelial dysfunction likely underlies both. We describe a case of dengue-associated posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome and discuss diagnosis and management.

Association of Microvascular Function and Endothelial Biomarkers With Clinical Outcome in Dengue: An Observational Study.

BACKGROUND: The hallmark of severe dengue is increased microvascular permeability, but alterations in the microcirculation and their evolution over the course of dengue are unknown. METHODS: We conducted a prospective observational study to evaluate the sublingual microcirculation using side-stream dark-field imaging in patients presenting early (<72 hours after fever onset) and patients hospitalized with warning signs or severe dengue in Vietnam. Clinical findings, microvascular function, global hemodynamics assessed with echocardiography, and serological markers of endothelial activation were determined at 4 time points. RESULTS: A total of 165 patients were enrolled. No difference was found between the microcirculatory parameters comparing dengue with other febrile illnesses. The proportion of perfused vessels (PPV) and the mean flow index (MFI) were lower in patients with dengue with plasma than those without leakage (PPV, 88.1% vs 90.6% [P = .01]; MFI, 2.1 vs 2.4 [P = .007]), most markedly during the critical phase. PPV and MFI were correlated with the endothelial activation markers vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (P < .001 for both) and angiopoietin 2 (P < .001 for both), negatively correlated. CONCLUSIONS: Modest microcirculatory alterations occur in dengue, are associated with plasma leakage, and are correlate with molecules of endothelial activation, angiopoietin 2 and vascular cell adhesion molecule 1.

Field deployment of Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti using uncrewed aerial vehicle.

Over the past 50 years, there has been a marked increase in diseases like dengue fever, chikungunya, and Zika. The World Mosquito Program (WMP) has developed an approach that, instead of attempting to eliminate vector species, introduces Wolbachia into native Aedes aegypti populations through the release of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes. Using this approach, a randomized controlled study recently demonstrated a 77% reduction in dengue across a treatment area within Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Existing release methods use the ground-based release of mosquito eggs or adults that are labor-intensive, are logistically challenging to scale up, and can be restrictive in areas where staff safety is a concern. To overcome these limitations, we developed a fully automated mosquito dosing release system that released smaller cohorts of mosquitoes over a wide area and integrated it into an uncrewed aerial vehicle. We established the effectiveness of this system using an aerial mark, release, and recapture approach. We then demonstrated that using only the aerial release method, we can establish Wolbachia infection in a naive Ae. aegypti population. In both cases, the use of aerial releases demonstrated comparable outcomes to ground-based releases without the required labor or risk. These two trials demonstrated the feasibility of using an aerial release approach for large-scale mosquito releases.

Timing of initiation of antiretroviral therapy in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)--associated tuberculous meningitis.

BACKGROUND: The optimal time to initiate antiretroviral therapy (ART) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated tuberculous meningitis is unknown. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of immediate versus deferred ART in patients with HIV-associated tuberculous meningitis to determine whether immediate ART reduced the risk of death. Antiretroviral drugs (zidovudine, lamivudine, and efavirenz) were started either at study entry or 2 months after randomization. All patients were treated with standard antituberculosis treatment, adjunctive dexamethasone, and prophylactic co-trimoxazole and were followed up for 12 months. We conducted intention-to-treat, per-protocol, and prespecified subgroup analyses. RESULTS: A total of 253 patients were randomized, 127 in the immediate ART group and 126 in the deferred ART group; 76 and 70 patients died within 9 months in the immediate and deferred ART groups, respectively. Immediate ART was not significantly associated with 9-month mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 1.12; 95% confidence interval [CI], .81-1.55; P = .50) or the time to new AIDS events or death (HR, 1.16; 95% CI, .87-1.55; P = .31). The percentage of patients with severe (grade 3 or 4) adverse events was high in both arms (90% in the immediate ART group and 89% in the deferred ART group; P = .84), but there were significantly more grade 4 adverse events in the immediate ART arm (102 in the immediate ART group vs 87 in the deferred ART group; P = .04). CONCLUSIONS: Immediate ART initiation does not improve outcome in patients presenting with HIV-associated tuberculous meningitis. There were significantly more grade 4 adverse events in the immediate ART arm, supporting delayed initiation of ART in HIV-associated tuberculous meningitis. Clinical Trials Registration. ISRCTN63659091.

Attenuation of a dengue virus replicon by codon deoptimization of nonstructural genes.

The overwhelming increase of dengue virus (DENV) infections in recent years shows that current strategies to combat dengue do not work. The lack of a highly effective dengue vaccine and the limited effectivity of vector controls exacerbate this situation. To point the way to a novel method of creating DENV vaccine candidates, here we disrupted the codon usage in a DENV-2 reporter replicon to generate variants with different replication characteristics. Six different mutated constructs containing stretches of altered codon usage in the non-structural genes were generated. The mutated sequences were deoptimized to the least favorable codons for human cells. We studied the replication efficiency of these constructs by measuring luciferase reporter activity, relative RNA fold change, and NS1 secretion. Our findings showed that the level of virus attenuation is closely associated with the amount of codon deoptimization. Indeed, replication was completely abolished in extensively-deoptimized constructs D2Rep-6 and D2Rep-5, intermediate with constructs D2Rep-4 (771 bp silent mutations) and D2Rep-3 (756 bp silent mutations) and restored almost to wildtype levels with constructs D2Rep-2 (394 silent mutations) and D2Rep-1 (48 silent mutations). We also determined that the position of codon deoptimization within the genome is crucial to the degree of attenuation observed. Based on our analysis, we propose that the design for an ideal DENV vaccine candidate could include 700-1500 silent mutations within the NS2A and NS3 genes. Our results suggest that codon deoptimization is an ideal strategy that can readily be used to develop a DENV vaccine candidate with "fine-tuned" attenuation.

Cardio-haemodynamic assessment and venous lactate in severe dengue: Relationship with recurrent shock and respiratory distress.

BACKGROUND: Dengue can cause plasma leakage that may lead to dengue shock syndrome (DSS). In approximately 30% of DSS cases, recurrent episodes of shock occur. These patients have a higher risk of fluid overload, respiratory distress and poor outcomes. We investigated the association of echocardiographically-derived cardiac function and intravascular volume parameters plus lactate levels, with the outcomes of recurrent shock and respiratory distress in severe dengue. METHODS/PRINCIPLE FINDINGS: We performed a prospective observational study in Paediatric and adult ICU, at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases (HTD), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Patients with dengue were enrolled within 12 hours of admission to paediatric or adult ICU. A haemodynamic assessment and portable echocardiograms were carried out daily for 5 days from enrolment and all interventions recorded. 102 patients were enrolled; 22 patients did not develop DSS, 48 had a single episode of shock and 32 had recurrent shock. Patients with recurrent shock had a higher enrolment pulse than those with 1 episode or no shock (median: 114 vs. 100 vs. 100 b/min, P = 0.002), significantly lower Stroke Volume Index (SVI), (median: 21.6 vs. 22.8 vs. 26.8mls/m2, P<0.001) and higher lactate levels (4.2 vs. 2.9 vs. 2.2 mmol/l, P = 0.001). Higher SVI and worse left ventricular function (higher Left Myocardial Performance Index) on study days 3-5 was associated with the secondary endpoint of respiratory distress. There was an association between the total IV fluid administered during the ICU admission and respiratory distress (OR: 1.03, 95% CI 1.01-1.06, P = 0.001). Admission lactate levels predicted patients who subsequently developed recurrent shock (P = 0.004), and correlated positively with the total IV fluid volume received (rho: 0.323, P = 0.001) and also with admission ALT (rho: 0.764, P<0.001) and AST (rho: 0.773, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Echo-derived intravascular volume assessment and venous lactate levels can help identify dengue patients at high risk of recurrent shock and respiratory distress in ICU. These findings may serve to, not only assist in the management of DSS patients, but also these haemodynamic endpoints could be used in future dengue fluid intervention trials.