Influenza Vaccination Primes Human Myeloid Cell Cytokine Secretion and NK Cell Function.

Cytokine-induced memory-like (CIML) NK cells generated in response to proinflammatory cytokines in vitro and in vivo can also be generated by vaccination, exhibiting heightened responses to cytokine stimulation months after their initial induction. Our previous study demonstrated that in vitro human NK cell responses to inactivated influenza virus were also indirectly augmented by very low doses of IL-15, which increased induction of myeloid cell-derived cytokine secretion. These findings led us to hypothesize that IL-15 stimulation could reveal a similar effect for active influenza vaccination and influence CIML NK cell effector functions. In this study, 51 healthy adults were vaccinated with seasonal influenza vaccine, and PBMC were collected before and up to 30 d after vaccination. Myeloid and lymphoid cell cytokine secretion was measured after in vitro PBMC restimulation with low-dose IL-15, alone or in combination with inactivated H3N2 virus; the associated NK cell response was assessed by flow cytometry. PBMC collected 30 d postvaccination showed heightened cytokine production in response to IL-15 compared with PBMC collected at baseline; these responses were further enhanced when IL-15 was combined with H3N2. NK cell activation in response to IL-15 alone (CD25) and H3N2 plus IL-15 (CD25 and IFN-γ) was enhanced postvaccination. We also observed proliferation of less-differentiated NK cells with downregulation of cytokine receptors as early as 3 d after vaccination, suggesting cytokine stimulation in vivo. We conclude that vaccination-induced "training" of accessory cells combines with the generation of CIML NK cells to enhance the overall NK cell response postvaccination.

Evaluation of the diagnostic accuracy and cost of different methods for the assessment of severe anaemia in hospitalised children in Eastern Uganda.

Background: Severe anaemia in children requiring hospital admission is a major public health problem in malaria-endemic Africa. Affordable methods for the assessment of haemoglobin have not been validated against gold standard measures for identifying those with severe anaemia requiring a blood transfusion, despite this resource being in short supply. Methods: We conducted a prospective descriptive study of hospitalized children aged 2 months - 12 years at Mbale and Soroti Regional Referral Hospitals, assessed to have pallor at triage by a nurse and two clinicians. Haemoglobin levels were measured using the HemoCue ® Hb 301 system (gold standard); the Haemoglobin Colour Scale; Colorimetric and Sahli's methods. We report clinical assessments of the degree of pallor, clinicians' intention to transfuse, inter-observer agreement, limits of agreement using the Bland-Altman method, and the sensitivity and specificity of each method in comparison to HemoCue ® Results: We recruited 322 children, clinically-assessed by the admitting nurse (n=314) as having severe (166; 51.6%), moderate (97; 30.1%) or mild (51; 15.8%) pallor. Agreement between the clinicians and the nurse were good: Clinician A Kappa=0.68 (0.60-0.76) and Clinician B Kappa=0.62 (0.53-0.71) respectively ( P<0.0001 for both). The nurse, clinicians A and B indicated that of 94/116 (81.0%), 83/121 (68.6%) and 93/120 (77.5%) respectively required transfusion. HemoCue ® readings indicated anaemia as mild (Hb10.0-11.9g/dl) in 8/292 (2.7%), moderate (Hb5.0-9.9g/dl) in 132/292 (45.2%) and severe (Hb<5.0g/dl) in 152/292 (52.1%). Comparing to HemoCue® the Sahli's method performed best in estimation of severe anaemia, with sensitivity 84.0% and specificity 87.9% and a Kappa score of  0.70 (0.64-0.80). Conclusions: Clinical assessment of severe pallor results has a low specificity for the diagnosis of severe anaemia. To target blood transfusion Hb measurement by either Hemocue® or Sahli's method for the cost of USD 4 or and USD 0.25 per test, respectively would be more cost-effective.

Drug-drug interactions between antiretrovirals and drugs used in the management of neglected tropical diseases: important considerations in the WHO 2020 Roadmap and London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases.

The group of infections known as the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) collectively affect one billion people worldwide, equivalent to one-sixth of the world's population. The NTDs cause severe physical and emotional morbidity, and have a profound effect on cycles of poverty; it is estimated that NTDs account for 534 000 deaths per year. NTDs such as soil-transmitted helminth infections and the vector-borne protozoal infections leishmaniasis and trypanosomiasis occur predominantly in the most economically disadvantaged and marginalized communities. It is estimated that all low-income countries harbour at least five of the NTDs simultaneously. NTDs are neglected because they do not individually rank highly in terms of mortality data, and because they affect populations with little political voice. There is considerable geographic overlap between areas with high prevalence of NTDs and HIV, raising the possibility of complex polypharmacy and drug-drug interactions. Antiretrovirals pose a particularly high risk for potential drug-drug interactions, which may be pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic in nature and can result in raising or lowering plasma or tissue concentrations of co-prescribed drugs. Elevated drug concentrations may be associated with drug toxicity and lower drug concentrations may be associated with therapeutic failure. The aim of this paper is to review the currently available data on interactions between antiretrovirals and drugs used in the management of NTDs. It is intended to serve as a resource for policy makers and clinicians caring for these patients, and to support the recent WHO 2020 Roadmap and the 2012 London Declaration on NTDs.

Exploring mechanisms of excess mortality with early fluid resuscitation: insights from the FEAST trial.

BACKGROUND: Early rapid fluid resuscitation (boluses) in African children with severe febrile illnesses increases the 48-hour mortality by 3.3% compared with controls (no bolus). We explored the effect of boluses on 48-hour all-cause mortality by clinical presentation at enrolment, hemodynamic changes over the first hour, and on different modes of death, according to terminal clinical events. We hypothesize that boluses may cause excess deaths from neurological or respiratory events relating to fluid overload. METHODS: Pre-defined presentation syndromes (PS; severe acidosis or severe shock, respiratory, neurological) and predominant terminal clinical events (cardiovascular collapse, respiratory, neurological) were described by randomized arm (bolus versus control) in 3,141 severely ill febrile children with shock enrolled in the Fluid Expansion as Supportive Therapy (FEAST) trial. Landmark analyses were used to compare early mortality in treatment groups, conditional on changes in shock and hypoxia parameters. Competing risks methods were used to estimate cumulative incidence curves and sub-hazard ratios to compare treatment groups in terms of terminal clinical events. RESULTS: Of 2,396 out of 3,141 (76%) classifiable participants, 1,647 (69%) had a severe metabolic acidosis or severe shock PS, 625 (26%) had a respiratory PS and 976 (41%) had a neurological PS, either alone or in combination. Mortality was greatest among children fulfilling criteria for all three PS (28% bolus, 21% control) and lowest for lone respiratory (2% bolus, 5% control) or neurological (3% bolus, 0% control) presentations. Excess mortality in bolus arms versus control was apparent for all three PS, including all their component features. By one hour, shock had resolved (responders) more frequently in bolus versus control groups (43% versus 32%, P <0.001), but excess mortality with boluses was evident in responders (relative risk 1.98, 95% confidence interval 0.94 to 4.17, P = 0.06) and 'non-responders' (relative risk 1.67, 95% confidence interval 1.23 to 2.28, P = 0.001), with no evidence of heterogeneity (P = 0.68). The major difference between bolus and control arms was the higher proportion of cardiogenic or shock terminal clinical events in bolus arms (n = 123; 4.6% versus 2.6%, P = 0.008) rather than respiratory (n = 61; 2.2% versus 1.3%, P = 0.09) or neurological (n = 63, 2.1% versus 1.8%, P = 0.6) terminal clinical events. CONCLUSIONS: Excess mortality from boluses occurred in all subgroups of children. Contrary to expectation, cardiovascular collapse rather than fluid overload appeared to contribute most to excess deaths with rapid fluid resuscitation. These results should prompt a re-evaluation of evidence on fluid resuscitation for shock and a re-appraisal of the rate, composition and volume of resuscitation fluids. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN69856593.