Healthcare itinerary of women undergoing an abortion according to their vulnerability.

CONTEXT: Precariousness is increasing among all populations and especially among women. The access to healthcare is increasingly unequal upon the population and particularly in access to contraception methods or abortion according to their vulnerability level. OBJECTIVE: Our main object is to describe the socio-demographic specifications, the different steps involved in the healthcare itinerary to contraception and abortion, according to the level of social vulnerability for a woman population sample requesting an abortion. The secondary objects are to detect the existence of a difficult healthcare itinerary and to describe the exposure to risky situations or behaviors according to their vulnerability level. METHOD: It is an observational cross-sectional survey to women having recourse to induced abortion in centers providing them, during 3 month in 2014, in the Aquitaine area. The validated tool to evaluate this situation in a psycho-social approach is the "EPICES score". RESULTS: Our sample identifies 49% of women in a precariousness situation. These women are younger and more often less employed. They benefit less often from a regular gynecology follow-up, do not use contraception as often and resort to abortion more often. They relate more often risky behavior for the health, conflict with the partner and psychological, physical violence. CONCLUSION: Special attention should be brought to all women in request of an abortion, for half of them are in a precarious situation and this physical might be a rare occasion of access to healthcare. Violence screening should be systematic and the choice of a long term birth control method should be encouraged.

CD4 cell recovery in treated HIV-2-infected adults is lower than expected: results from the French ANRS CO5 HIV-2 cohort.

In 61 antiretroviral-naive HIV-2-infected patients starting triple therapy at a median CD4 cell count of 136 cells/microl, the median increase was 41 cells/microl at month 12, which was no different among those on protease inhibitors or triple nucleoside analogues. Despite virological response, as the median plasma load was under the detectable threshold from month 3, CD4 cell recovery remained poor in treated HIV-2 infection. Our results raise the question of the optimal regimen to recommend in HIV-2-infected patients.

Factors associated with clinical progression in HIV-2 infected-patients: the French ANRS cohort.

OBJECTIVES: To identify factors associated with clinical progression in HIV-2 infected patients. DESIGN: French prospective cohort initiated in 1994. METHODS: Follow-up data are collected twice a year; viral load is assessed once a year by cellular viraemia, quantitative proviral DNA and plasma RNA. A Cox proportional-hazards model was used for studying baseline factors associated with clinical progression. RESULTS: By December 2001, 217 patients had been enrolled. At inclusion, 80%, 6% and 14% were Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) group A, B and C, respectively. Median CD4 cell count was 436 x 10(6)/l. In the 48% of positive specimens, the median plasma RNA titre was 3.0 log10 copies/ml. Mean follow-up of the 179 patients seen at least twice was 34.4 months. Of these 13 died and nine progressed to group C. Ninety-three (52%) received antiretroviral therapy during a mean of 33 months, including a protease inhibitor in 48%. The probability of remaining AIDS-free was 97% and 95% at 1 and 3 years, respectively. Independent variables associated with clinical progression were age > or = 40 years [hazard ratio (HR), 11; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.4-91.8; P = 0.03] and plasma RNA (HR, 2.5 per additional log10 copies/ml; 95% CI, 1.3-4.7, P < 0.01). Prior group B symptoms and CD4 cell count < 200 x 10(6)/l were associated with progression to AIDS. AIDS and plasma RNA were predictive of death. CONCLUSION: Considering the limited progression rate of HIV-2 infection, combined antiretroviral therapy should be discussed in patients with high plasma RNA titres, which threshold value remains to be defined. It is recommended in case of AIDS, CDC group B symptoms or CD4 cell count < 200 x 10(6)/l.

Improved sensitivity of human immunodeficiency virus type 2 subtype B plasma viral load assay.

We developed a new assay for human immunodeficiency virus type 2 plasma RNA quantification based on a previous format. The new version performed significantly better than the original regarding the detection of subtype B, allowing the detection of 14 out of 36 plasma RNAs in the subtype B-infected patients not detected with the original version.

Plasma RNA viral load in human immunodeficiency virus type 2 subtype A and subtype B infections.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2) is much less pathogenic than HIV-1, and HIV-2 infection is associated with plasma viral loads significantly lower than those found in HIV-1 infection. We have developed a real-time quantitative PCR method for measuring the HIV-2 RNA load that covers the range of genetic diversity of HIV-2 isolates and that detects extremely low viral loads. Samples from 49 patients were studied. Proviral DNA was first detected and quantified. The strains that were detected were then genotyped: 21 patients were infected with HIV-2 subtype A and 15 patients were infected with HIV-2 subtype B; 1 patient was infected with a highly divergent strain. Env PCR failed for the remaining 12 patients, so subtypes could not be determined. For viral RNA quantification, a stock of HIV-2 strain NIHZ, which was counted by electron microscopy, was used as the standard. Several primer sets targeting the highly conserved gag region were evaluated. Various primer combinations failed to amplify subtype B strains. With the final primer pair selected, which detected both subtype A and subtype B strains, the sensitivity of the assay was 100% at a viral load of 250 copies/ml and 66% at a viral load of 125 copies/ml. We found a correlation between the CD4(+)-cell count, the clinical stage, and the plasma HIV-2 RNA level. The median plasma HIV-2 RNA value for the 33 asymptomatic patients was 2.14 log(10), whereas it was 3.1 log(10) for the 16 patients with AIDS (P < 0.01). Proviral DNA was detectable in 18 symptom-free patients with high CD4(+)-cell counts, in whom viral RNA was undetectable.

High frequency of selection of K65R and Q151M mutations in HIV-2 infected patients receiving nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors containing regimen.

The objective of the study was to determine retrospectively which substitutions in the reverse transcriptase (RT) gene are selected in vivo during nucleoside RT inhibitors (NRTI) containing regimen in HIV-2 infected subjects. Thirty-four HIV-2 patients having received NRTI-containing regimen with available specimens and amplifiable RT gene were studied. Analyses of RT gene were undertaken after a median NRTI exposure of 51 months (range: 5-128). Mutations at positions known to be involved in HIV-1 resistance were observed in 26/34 patients. Selection of Q151M mutation was observed in nine out of 34 isolates (26%) after a median NRTIs exposure of 41 months (range: 12-77). In 8/9 cases, Q151M mutation was associated with other substitutions at positions known to be involved in HIV-1 resistance: K65R (n = 6), D67N (n = 1), N69S or T (n = 2), K70R (n = 3), M184V (n = 4), S215Y (n = 1). Compared with HIV-1 infection, there is a high frequency of selection of Q151M mutation in HIV-2 infected patients receiving various combinations of NRTIs. In these highly thymidine analogue pretreated patients, the selection of thymidine analogue mutations was low suggesting that the pathway to resistance is very different between these two viruses.