Lower prevalence of Entamoeba species in children with vertically transmitted HIV infection in Western Kenya.

A cross-sectional molecular epidemiological study of Entamoeba species was conducted among asymptomatic Kenyan children with (n = 123) and without (n = 111) HIV infection. The prevalence of E. histolytica was low (0.4%). Entamoeba species infection was inversely related with HIV infection [HIV(+): 29.3% vs. HIV(-): 55.0%, P < 0.001]: multiple-species infection was related to higher CD4 T-cell counts. Thus, HIV infection is not a risk factor for amebic infection, and multiple-species infection can be an indicator of better immune status.

Comparison of HIV-1 nef and gag Variations and Host HLA Characteristics as Determinants of Disease Progression among HIV-1 Vertically Infected Kenyan Children.

OBJECTIVES: Disease progression varies among HIV-1-infected individuals. The present study aimed to explore possible viral and host factors affecting disease progression in HIV-1-infected children. METHODS: Since 2000, 102 HIV-1 vertically-infected children have been followed-up in Kenya. Here we studied 29 children (15 male/14 female) who started antiretroviral treatment at <5 years of age (rapid progressors; RP), and 32 (17 male/15 female) who started at >10 years of age (slow progressors; SP). Sequence variations in the HIV-1 gag and nef genes and the HLA class I-related epitopes were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Based on nef sequences, HIV-1 subtypes A1/D were detected in 62.5%/12.5% of RP and 66.7%/20% of SP, with no significant difference in subtype distribution between groups (p = 0.8). In the ten Nef functional domains, only the PxxP3 region showed significantly greater variation in RP (33.3%) than SP (7.7%, p = 0.048). Gag sequences did not significantly differ between groups. The reportedly protective HLA-A alleles, A*74:01, A*32:01 and A*26, were more commonly observed in SP (50.0%) than RP (11.1%, p = 0.010), whereas the reportedly disease-susceptible HLA-B*45:01 was more common in RP (33.3%) than SP (7.4%, p = 0.045). Compared to RP, SP showed a significantly higher median number of predicted HLA-B-related 12-mer epitopes in Nef (3 vs. 2, p = 0.037), HLA-B-related 11-mer epitopes in Gag (2 vs. 1, p = 0.029), and HLA-A-related 9-mer epitopes in Gag (4 vs. 1, p = 0.051). SP also had fewer HLA-C-related epitopes in Nef (median 4 vs. 5, p = 0.046) and HLA-C-related 11-mer epitopes in Gag (median 1 vs. 1.5, p = 0.044) than RP. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to rapid progressors, slow progressors had more protective HLA-A alleles and more HLA-B-related epitopes in both the Nef and Gag proteins. These results suggest that the host factor HLA plays a stronger role in disease progression than the Nef and Gag sequence variations in HIV-1-infected Kenyan children.

Change in the Prevalence of HIV-1 and the Rate of Transmitted Drug-Resistant HIV-1 in Haiphong, Northern Vietnam.

We previously reported a significant decrease in HIV-1 prevalence, with no increase in drug-resistant HIV-1 among injecting drug users (IDU), female sex workers (FSW), and blood donors (BD), in Haiphong, Vietnam, from 2007 to 2009. In 2012, 388 IDU, 51 FSW, and 200 BD were recruited for further analysis. None had a history of antiretroviral treatment. From 2007 to 2012, HIV-1 prevalence was reduced from 35.9% to 18.6% (p<0.001), 23.1% to 9.8% (p<0.05), and 2.9% to 1% (p=0.29) in IDU, FSW, and BD, respectively. Of 79 anti-HIV-1 antibody-positive samples, 61 were successfully analyzed for the pol-reverse transcriptase (RT) region. All HIV-1 strains were CRF01_AE. Nonnucleoside RT inhibitor-resistant mutations, Y181C/I, were detected in three subjects; one had the nucleoside RT inhibitor-resistant mutations L74V and M184V and one had E138K. The prevalence of transmitted drug-resistant HIV-1 in Haiphong increased slightly from 1.8% in 2007 to 6.6% in 2012 (p=0.06).