Successful expanded clinic network collaboration and patient tracing for retention in HIV care.

BACKGROUND: There are more than 7,800 people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Victoria, Australia. Crucial in maximising the individual and population level benefits from antiretroviral therapy (ART) is understanding how to achieve patient retention in care and the factors that drive it. This study was an expansion of a 2015 assessment of HIV-care retention in Victoria, which sought out to determine whether the inclusion of a broader range of HIV-healthcare sites would yield more accurate estimates of retention in HIV-care. We aimed to improve our understanding of HIV-care retention in Victoria, Australia, identify people living with HIV (PLHIV) with unknown outcomes, and attempt to re-engage PLHIV in care. METHODS: A network of 15 HIV-care sites was established in Victoria, Australia across diverse care settings which ranged from low-caseload rural sites to high-caseload metropolitan GP clinics and hospitals. Individuals who had an HIV viral load (VL) performed in both calendar years of 2016 and 2017 were classified as retained in care. Individuals with a VL test in 2016 but not in 2017 were considered to potentially have unknown outcomes as they may have been receiving care elsewhere, have disengaged from care or died. For this group, an intervention of cross-referencing partially de-identified data between healthcare sites, and contact tracing individuals who still had unknown outcomes was performed. RESULTS: For 5223 individuals considered to be retained in care across 15 healthcare sites in the study period, 49 had unconfirmed transfers of care to an alternative provider and 79 had unknown outcomes. After the intervention, the number of unconfirmed care transfers was reduced to 17 and unknown outcomes reduced to 51. These changes were largely attributed to people being reclassified as confirmed transfers of care. Retention in care estimates that did not include the patient outcome of confirmed transfer of care ranged from 76.2 to 95.8% and did not alter with the intervention. However, retention in care estimates which considered confirmed transfers and those that re-entered care at a new site as retained in care significantly increased across five of the sites with estimates ranging from 80.9 to 98.3% pre-intervention to 83.3-100% post-intervention. Individuals whose outcomes remained unknown post-intervention were more often men who have sex with men (MSM) when compared to other categories (person who injects drugs (PWID), combined PWID/MSM, men who identify as heterosexual or unknown) (74.5% vs. 53.5%, [p = 0.06]) and receiving ART at their last HIV-care visit (84.3% vs. 67.8% [p = 0.09]). CONCLUSION: This study confirmed high retention in HIV-care and low numbers of people disengaged from HIV-care in Victoria. This was demonstrated across a larger number of sites with varying models of care than a prior assessment in 2015. These data align with national and state targets aiming for 95% of PLHIV retained in HIV-care.

Neutralizing antibodies in patients with chronic hepatitis C infection treated with (Peg)-interferon/ribavirin.

BACKGROUND: The role of neutralizing antibody (NAb) in determining response to antiviral therapy has not been established. OBJECTIVE: In this study we have analysed the kinetic's of the NAb response in patients with chronic hepatitis C who received antiviral therapy. STUDY DESIGN: Seventeen patients infected with genotype 1, 2a/c or 3a hepatitis C virus (HCV) were enrolled, eight with a sustained virological response (SVR), five non-responders and four relapsers. RESULTS: The mean NAb titre required to neutralize 50% of the E1E2-pp in patients who achieved an SVR (294+/-S.D. 51), in relapsers (246+/-S.D. 61.7) and non-responders (286+/-S.D. 80.95) did not differ significantly between the patient groups and did not alter during the course of treatment (P>0.01). Genetic variation present before antiviral therapy was analysed by single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) and failed to demonstrate a significant difference in the mean number of amplified E1E2 DNA fragments from the serum of patients who achieved an SVR (3.15+/-S.D. 1.53), relapsers (2.8+/-S.D. 1.32) or non-responders (3.69+/-S.D. 1.75). The baseline serum HCV viral loads were also not significantly different between patients who achieved an SVR (1.4 x 10(6) copies/ml; +/-S.D. 2.4 x 10(6)), relapsers (1.3 x 10(7) copies/ml; +/-S.D. 2.4 x 10(7)) and non-responders (1.5 x 10(6) copies/ml; +/-S.D. 1.1 x 10(6)). CONCLUSION: We have shown that neutralizing anti-HCVpp antibody is not associated with response to antiviral therapy. In addition, there was no correlation between baseline virological load, circulating viral quasi-species, NAb titres and final response to treatment.