Case of Babesia crassa-Like Infection, Slovenia, 2014.

We report a case of Babesia crassa-like infection in an asplenic patient in Slovenia in 2014. We diagnosed the infection using microscopy, 18S rRNA sequencing, and serology and monitored parasitemia using digital PCR. With its increasing occurrence, babesiosis should be included in differential diagnoses for immunocompromised patients displaying fever.

Impact of added fluvastatin to standard-of-care treatment on sustained virological response in naïve chronic hepatitis C Patients infected with genotypes 1 and 3.

OBJECTIVES: The combination of pegylated interferon-α and ribavirin is a standard-of-care (SOC) treatment for chronic hepatitis C (CHC), and it achieves a sustained virological response (SVR) in 41-52% of genotype 1 and in 73-79% of genotype 3 patients. In a few clinical trials, the combination of fluvastatin and SOC increased the SVR in genotype 1 patients. METHODS: This prospective study enrolled 179 naïve CHC patients. In the fluvastatin group patients received the combination of SOC and fluvastatin 80 mg daily; historical controls matching the study group in genotype, age and gender were treated with the SOC treatment only. RESULTS: On-treatment viral responses as well as the SVR did not differ significantly between the two groups, except for the genotype 1 patients with a high viral load presenting a significantly higher SVR rate in the fluvastatin group (75%) compared to the control group (41%; p = 0.024). Multivariate logistic regression identified hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 3 infection (p < 0.001), age ≤40 years (p < 0.001), liver steatosis <5% (p < 0.01) and low viral load (p < 0.001) as independent predictors of an SVR. CONCLUSION: A combination of fluvastatin and SOC significantly improved the SVR in naïve CHC patients infected with HCV genotype 1 and high viral load, but it did not improve the SVR in patients infected with HCV genotype 3.

Hepatitis C virus genotypes in 1,504 patients in Slovenia, 1993-2007.

In order to identify the main routes of hepatitis C (HCV) transmission and to determine the HCV genotype distribution and its dynamics during a 15-year period in Slovenia, HCV genotypes were detected using the INNO-LiPA HCV II (Innogenetics) test for serum samples obtained from 1,504 patients representing 72.6% of all patients with chronic hepatitis C diagnosed from 1993 to 2007. HCV genotype 1 was predominant (56%), followed by genotypes 3, 2, and 4, with a prevalence of 37.8%, 5%, and 1.2%, respectively. HCV genotypes 5 and 6 were not detected in any patient. Patients infected with HCV genotype 3 were significantly younger (mean age 28.9 +/- 8.5 years) than those infected with genotype 1 (mean age 38.9 +/- 14.8 years; P < 0.0001) and those infected with HCV genotype 2 (mean age 50.3 +/- 18.2 years; P < 0.0001). Intravenous drug use was identified as the most frequent possible HCV transmission route (34.3%), followed by medical-related transmission such as transfusion of HCV-contaminated blood or blood products, and hemodialysis (12.5%). Being an intravenous drug user was found to be strongly associated with HCV genotype 3 (OR, 3.71 [95% CI, 2.97-4.65]; P < 0.0001) and reporting infection by transfusion of blood or blood products was found to be strongly associated with HCV genotype 1 (OR, 3.28 [95% CI, 2.18-4.95]; P < 0.0001). During the 15-year period, the proportion of genotype 3 increased substantially, reflecting the fact that the HCV epidemic in Slovenia is driven mostly by intravenous drug use.