BACKGROUND The burden of cervical cancer remains huge globally, more so in sub-Saharan Africa. Effectiveness of screening, rates of recurrence following treatment and factors driving these in Africans have not been sufficiently studied. The purpose of this study therefore was to investigate factors associated with recurrence of cervical intraepithelial lesions following thermo-coagulation in HI...

BACKGROUND Our objective was to determine the frequency and determinants of presentation to care with advanced HIV disease in patients who discover their HIV diagnosis at this stage as well as those with delayed presentation to care after HIV diagnosis in earlier stages. METHODS We collected data on 1,819 HIV-infected patients in Brussels (Belgium) and Northern France from January 1997 to Dec...

BACKGROUND CD8+ T cells may play an important role in protecting against HIV. However, the changes of CD8+ T cell subsets during early period of ART have not been fully studied. METHODS Twenty-one asymptomatic treatment-naive HIV-infected patients with CD4 T+ cells less than 350 cells/μl were enrolled in the study. Naïve, central memory(CM), effective memory(EM) and terminally differentiated ...

We studied the time interval between starting tuberculosis treatmentandcommencingantiretroviral treatment (ART)inHIV-infected patients (n = 1433; median CD4 count 71 cells per microliter, interquartile range: 32–132) attending 3 South African township ART services between 2002 and 2008. The overall median delay was 2.66 months (interquartile range: 1.58–4.17). In adjusted analyses, delays varie...

We report a case of an HIV-seronegative pregnant woman with disseminated cryptococcosis, poorly controlled during gestation. Immunological studies showed T-lymphocytopenia during gestation, but rapid recovery postpartum. T-lymphocytopenia may play a role in increased susceptibility to and severity of cryptococcal infection during pregnancy.

A case is reported in which a high fertilization rate was achieved by conventional in-vitro fertilization (IVF), using spermatozoa from an oligozoospermic man carrying a microdeletion of the long arm of the Y chromosome. The patient presented with idiopathic infertility of 10 years duration; the fertility status of his wife was completely normal. After IVF, five out of eight oocytes retrieved s...

Background. Use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) may be associated with higher pregnancy rates. Methods. The prevalence and incidence of pregnancy was assessed in 712 HIV+ pre-ART women of reproductive age (WRA) (15-45) and 244 HIV+ WRA initiating ART. Prevalence rate ratios (PRR), incidence rate ratios (IRR), and 95% confidence interval (CI) were assessed. Results. The incidence of pregnancy wa...

BACKGROUND In 2011, the Ministry of Health raised the CD4 threshold for antiretroviral therapy (ART) eligibility from <250 cells/µl and <350 cells/µl, but at the same time only 8.8% of facilities in Malawi with HIV services provided CD4 testing. We conducted a record review at 10 rural clinics in Thyolo District to assess the impact of introducing CD4 testing on identifying patients eligible fo...

BACKGROUND Late diagnosis of HIV infection is common. We aim to assess the proportion of newly diagnosed HIV cases receiving timely baseline CD4 count testing and the associated factors in China. METHODS Data were extracted from the Chinese HIV/AIDS Comprehensive Response Information Management System. Adult patients over 15 years old who had been newly diagnosed with HIV infection in China b...

OBJECTIVE To examine the effect of early syphilis on blood and semen plasma HIV-1 viral loads and CD4 counts. METHODS In a retrospective case-control study, blood plasma HIV-1 viral loads and CD4 counts in cases during early syphilis (n = 63, 27 receiving antiretroviral therapy) were compared to those before and after syphilis and with controls with non-systemic acute sexually transmitted inf...