Development and Pilot-Testing of an Optimized Conversational Agent or "Chatbot" for Peruvian Adolescents Living With HIV to Facilitate Mental Health Screening, Education, Self-Help, and Linkage to Care: Protocol for a Mixed Methods, Community-Engaged Study.

BACKGROUND: Adolescents living with HIV are disproportionally affected by depression, which worsens antiretroviral therapy adherence, increases viral load, and doubles the risk of mortality. Because most adolescents living with HIV live in low- and middle-income countries, few receive depression treatment due to a lack of mental health services and specialists in low-resource settings. Chatbot technology, used increasingly in health service delivery, is a promising approach for delivering low-intensity depression care to adolescents living with HIV in resource-constrained settings. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study is to develop and pilot-test for the feasibility and acceptability of a prototype, optimized conversational agent (chatbot) to provide mental health education, self-help skills, and care linkage for adolescents living with HIV. METHODS: Chatbot development comprises 3 phases conducted over 2 years. In the first phase (year 1), formative research will be conducted to understand the views, opinions, and preferences of up to 48 youths aged 10-19 years (6 focus groups of up to 8 adolescents living with HIV per group), their caregivers (5 in-depth interviews), and HIV program personnel (5 in-depth interviews) regarding depression among adolescents living with HIV. We will also investigate the perceived acceptability of a mental health chatbot, including barriers and facilitators to accessing and using a chatbot for depression care by adolescents living with HIV. In the second phase (year 1), we will iteratively program a chatbot using the SmartBot360 software with successive versions (0.1, 0.2, and 0.3), meeting regularly with a Youth Advisory Board comprised of adolescents living with HIV who will guide and inform the chatbot development and content to arrive at a prototype version (version 1.0) for pilot-testing. In the third phase (year 2), we will pilot-test the prototype chatbot among 50 adolescents living with HIV naïve to its development. Participants will interact with the chatbot for up to 2 weeks, and data will be collected on the acceptability of the chatbot-delivered depression education and self-help strategies, depression knowledge changes, and intention to seek care linkage. RESULTS: The study was awarded in April 2022, received institutional review board approval in November 2022, received funding in December 2022, and commenced recruitment in March 2023. By the completion of study phases 1 and 2, we expect our chatbot to incorporate key needs and preferences gathered from focus groups and interviews to develop the chatbot. By the completion of study phase 3, we will have assessed the feasibility and acceptability of the prototype chatbot. Study phase 3 began in April 2024. Final results are expected by January 2025 and published thereafter. CONCLUSIONS: The study will produce a prototype mental health chatbot developed with and for adolescents living with HIV that will be ready for efficacy testing in a subsequent, larger study. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/55559.

Lifetime Changes in CD4 T-cell count, Viral Load Suppression and Adherence Among Adolescents Living With HIV in Urban Peru.

We quantified longitudinal changes in CD4 T-cell count, viral load suppression and combined antiretroviral therapy adherence from childhood to adolescence among patients living with HIV in urban Peru. Mean CD4 count and viral load suppression decreased dramatically in early adolescence (13 years of age) in tandem with increases in nonadherence.

Undervaccination of perinatally HIV-infected and HIV-exposed uninfected children in Latin America and the Caribbean.

BACKGROUND: Perinatally HIV-infected (PHIV) children may be at risk of undervaccination. Vaccination coverage rates among PHIV and HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) children in Latin America and the Caribbean were compared. METHODS: All PHIV and HEU children born from 2002 to 2007 who were enrolled in a multisite observational study conducted in Latin America and the Caribbean were included in this analysis. Children were classified as up to date if they had received the recommended number of doses of each vaccine at the appropriate intervals by 12 and 24 months of age. Fisher's exact test was used to analyze the data. Covariates potentially associated with a child's HIV status were considered in multivariable logistic regression modeling. RESULTS: Of 1156 eligible children, 768 (66.4%) were HEU and 388 (33.6%) were PHIV. HEU children were significantly (P < 0.01) more likely to be up to date by 12 and 24 months of age for all vaccines examined. Statistically significant differences persisted when the analyses were limited to children enrolled before 12 months of age. Controlling for birth weight, sex, primary caregiver education and any use of tobacco, alcohol or illegal drugs during pregnancy did not contribute significantly to the logistic regression models. CONCLUSIONS: PHIV children were significantly less likely than HEU children to be up to date for their childhood vaccinations at 12 and 24 months of age, even when limited to children enrolled before 12 months of age. Strategies to increase vaccination rates in PHIV are needed.

Niños hospitalizados con neumonía por influenza AH1N11/2009 pandémico en un hospital de referencia de Perú / Children hospitalized with influenza pneumonia AH1N1/2009 pandemic in the INSN

Objetivos. Determinar las características clínicas y demográficas de la neumonía por el virus de influenza AH1N1/2009 pandémico en un hospital de referencia de Perú. Materiales y métodos. Se realizó un estudio serie de casos en niños hospitalizados por neumonía por influenza AH1N1/2009 pandémico en un hospital de referencia. Revisamos las historias clínicas entre los meses de junio a septiembre 2009. Todos los casos tuvieron confirmación virológica. Resultados. Se encontró 74 casos de neumonía por el virus de Influenza AH1N1/2009 pandémico (NVIp), de los cuales 50 tuvieron el diagnóstico de neumonía adquirida en la comunidad viral (NACv) y 24 con neumonía nosocomial viral (NNv) de los cuales 16 requirieron ventilación mecánica. Fallecieron 12, todos ellos con antecedentes de comorbilidad. Los casos NNv presentaron asociación estadística con mortalidad. En los casos NACv, los menores de 6 años representaron 72 por ciento (36/50). La mediana de tiempo de enfermedad fue de 5 días. Los síntomas más frecuentes fueron fiebre, tos, rinorrea. Recibieron oseltamivir el 82 por ciento. En la radiografía de tórax el 48 por ciento de los casos presentó infiltrado en parches y el 44 por ciento infiltrado intersticial en la radiografía de tórax. La proteína C reactiva (PCR) mayor a 10mg/L tuvo una asociación significativa con insuficiencia respiratoria (p <0,05). Conclusiones. Encontramos casos NNv quienes tuvieron mayor mortalidad, también los que presentaron el PCR elevado y los que presentaron condición preexistente.

ObjectiveTo determine the clinical and demographic characteristics of pneumonia with influenza virus AH1N1/2009 pandemic at the National Institute of Child. Methods. Retrospective case series in children hospitalized for influenza pneumonia pandemic AH1N1/2009 in a pediatric hospital. Reviewed the medical records between the months of June to September 2009. All cases had virological confirmation, we describe the clinical characteristics and conditions of severity. Results. A total of 74 children of pneumonia with influenza virus AH1N1/2009 pandemic (NVIp), of those 50 were community acquire pneumonia viral (NACv) and 24 pneumonia nosocomial viral (NNv), 16 required mechanical ventilation. 12 died, all had preexisting factors. NN cases showed statistical association with mortality. The most frequent factors were malnutrition, respiratory infections, congenital heart disease and neurological deficits In NACv cases the children under 6 years accounted for 72 percent (36/50). The median disease duration was 5 days. The most frequent symptoms were fever, cough, runny nose. Received oseltamivir 82 percent. The chest radiograph 48 percent of cases showed patchy infiltrates and 44 percent interstitial infiltrate on chest radiograph. Protein c reactive (CRP) more than 10mg / L was significantly associated with respiratory failure (p <0.05). Conclusions. Cases of NN found who had more mortality, even those who had the highest PCR and those with preexisting condition.

Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pediatric patients in Lima, Peru.

We conducted a prospective study in three hospitals in Lima in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) children to determine the frequency of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli. Five E. coli colonies/patients were studied by a multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction to identify the six currently recognized groups of diarrhea-associated E. coli. We have analyzed 70 HIV-associated diarrheal and 70 control samples from HIV-infected children without diarrhea. Among the diarrheal episodes 19% were persistent, 3% dysenteric, and 33% were associated with moderate or severe dehydration. The diarrheagenic E. coli were the most commonly isolated pathogens in diarrhea (19%) and control samples (26%) (P = 0.42), including enteroaggregative (6% versus 10%), enteropathogenic (6% versus 10%), and enterotoxigenic E. coli (4% versus 3%), respectively. The HIV-infected children with diarrhea had the worse age-related immunosuppression, higher viral loads, and were on highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) less often than HIV-infected children without diarrhea. Diarrheagenic E. coli were highly resistant to ampicillin (74%) and cotrimoxazole (70%).