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Among 359 healthcare workers (HCW) employed in Panzi General Referral Hospital located in Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 148 (41.2%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Thirty-three (22.3%) of the 148 personnel with positive serology reported symptoms evoking a prior COVID-19 illness. None of the infected HCWs reported COVID-related hospitalization, and all of them recovered. Our findings indicate high and underestimated circulation of SARS-CoV-2 within the Bukavu area., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

BACKGROUND: The impact of HIV infection on malaria is unclear in nonendemic areas. In endemic territories, HIV has been reported to be a risk factor for higher morbidity. Nowadays, as HIV-infected patients travel more, it is important to assess the impact of HIV at the individual level on imported malaria. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This retrospective case-control study collected data on HIV-infected patients diagnosed with malaria (2000-2017) and matched them with two controls based on age, sex and ethnicity. Clinical and biological parameters were collected and compared. RESULTS: We identified 47 cases and matched them with 94 controls. Comparing each of the WHO 2014 severity criteria, hyperparasitemia above 10% (P = 0.006; 12.8 versus 1.1%), icterus (P = 0.042; 14.9 versus 4.3%), acute renal failure (P = 0.022; 25.5 versus 9.6%) and bacteraemia (P = 0.014; 6.4 versus 0%) were significantly more present in HIV-infected patients with a trend to more cerebral malaria (12.8 versus 6.4%). HIV- infected patients were hospitalized more frequently and for longer periods. We observed a higher number of severity criteria when CD4 T-cell count was lower, especially below 200 cells/μl. The difference in occurrence of severe malaria disappeared when patients with CD4 T-cell count more than 500 cells/μl and undetectable viral load (n = 9) were compared with controls. De-novo HIV diagnosis was made during the malaria episode in 17% of cases. CONCLUSION: HIV infection has an impact on the imported malaria profile, although it is unclear whether well controlled HIV-infected patients have a higher risk of severe malaria. HIV-infected patients should be particularly targeted for pretravel advice., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Before 1940, most uveitis cases were supposed to be due to infectious agents, mainly syphilis or tuberculosis [1]. Progress in the understanding of intraocular inflammation led to the discovery that uveitis can be of infectious and noninfectious origin and that many pathogens can cause infectious uveitis. Theoretically, Koch postulates must be fulfilled, in order to formerly demonstrate that a disease is due to an infectious agent. However, in infectious uveitis, most often, serological evidence, molecular or histological demonstration, and treatment response are usually the only available elements to suggest the infectious origin of the uveitis. Using those evidences, a large number of infectious organisms have been demonstrated to cause infectious uveitis. Some have a global importance around the world, while others have more limited niches. Many of them have been considered as emerging pathogens.

Chagas disease is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, and mostly affects poor rural populations of central and south America. It is mainly acquired by bugs (triatoma) but also by ingestion of the parasite (fresh fruit juices) or by foetal-maternal blood passing. Despite an important decrease in transmission during the last decades in several countries, millions of patients are still chronically infected and most of them are asymptomatic. In 2012-2013, two cases were admitted in our cardiac intensive care unit (ICU) with heart block due to Chagas cardiomyopathy. Diagnosis was established by echocardiography and positive serological results for Trypanosoma cruzi. This report underlines that in cases of heart failure and conduction abnormalities of unclear aetiology, Chagas disease should be taken into consideration, even in patients originating from non-endemic countries.

BACKGROUND: Serious lower respiratory tract infections (SLRTIs), especially Streptococcus pneumoniae (SP)-related pneumonia cause considerable morbidity and mortality. Chest imaging, sputum and blood culture are not routinely obtained by general practitioners (GPs). Antibiotic therapy is usually started empirically. The BinaxNOW® and Urine Antigen Detection (UAD) assays have been developed respectively to detect a common antigen from all pneumococcal strains and the 13 pneumococcal serotypes present in the vaccine Prevenar 13® (PCV13). METHODS: OPUS-B was a multicentre, prospective, case-control, observational study of patients with SLRTI in primary care in Belgium, conducted during two winter seasons (2011-2013). A urine sample was collected at baseline for the urine assays. GPs were blinded to the results. All patients with a positive BinaxNOW® test and twice as much randomly selected BinaxNOW® negative patients were followed up. Recorded data included: socio-demographics, medical history, vaccination history, clinical symptoms, CRB-65 score, treatments, hospitalization, blood cultures, healthcare use, EQ-5D score. The objectives were to evaluate the percentage of SP SLRTI within the total number of SLRTIs, to assess the percentage of SP serotypes and to compare the burden of disease between pneumococcal and non-pneumococcal SLRTIs. RESULTS: There were 26 patients with a BinaxNOW® positive test and 518 patients with a BinaxNOW® negative test. The proportion of pneumococcal SLRTI was 4.8 % (95 % CI: 3.1 %-7.2 %). Sixty-eight percent of positive cases showed serotypes represented in PCV13. In the BinaxNOW-positive patients, women were more numerous, there was less exposure to young children, seasonal influenza vaccination was less frequent, COPD was more frequent, the body temperature and the number of breaths per minute were higher, the systolic blood pressure was lower, the frequency of sputum, infiltrate, chest pain, muscle ache, confusion/disorientation, diarrhoea, pneumonia and exacerbations of COPD was more frequent, EQ-5D index and VAS scale were lower, the number of visits to the GP, of working days lost and of days patients needed assistance were higher. CONCLUSIONS: SP was responsible for approximately 5 % of SLRTIs observed in primary care in Belgium. Pneumococcal infection was associated with a significant increase in morbidity. Sixty-eight percent of serotypes causing SLRTI were potentially preventable by PCV13. ispartof: BMC Family Practice vol:16 issue:16 pages:66- ispartof: location:England status: published

Onchocerciasis ('river blindness') has for several centuries been the scourge of people living in certain areas of the world where the disease is endemic. The treatment available up to 10 years ago, diethylcarbamazine, had very severe secondary effects. The availability of ivermectin--a well tolerated and highly effective microfilaricidal drug--has completely changed this scenario. Ivermectin is now considered to be the drug of choice for the treatment of onchocerciasis. The prognosis for people with onchocerciasis has changed greatly. It is now possible to avoid the heavy infection loads seen previously, and patients, especially expatriates, may have their symptoms relieved by treatment. Ivermectin, used in mass treatment, may also improve the epidemiological situation, reducing the level of microfilariae in the skin of infected people and thus reducing the source for vector infestation. However, the treatment has to be repeated because the drug has no macrofilaricidal effect. Research today is focused on the finding of a drug able to destroy the adult worms that go on producing microfilariae for the length of their lives.

Ketolides differ from macrolides by removal of the 3-O-cladinose (replaced by a keto group), a 11,12- or 6,11-cyclic moiety and a heteroaryl-alkyl side chain attached to the macrocyclic ring through a suitable linker. These modifications allow for anchoring at two distinct binding sites in the 23S rRNA (increasing activity against erythromycin-susceptible strains and maintaining activity towards Streptococcus pneumoniae resistant to erythromycin A by ribosomal methylation), and make ketolides less prone to induce methylase expression and less susceptible to efflux in S. pneumoniae. Combined with an advantageous pharmacokinetic profile (good oral bioavailability and penetration in the respiratory tract tissues and fluids; prolonged half-life allowing for once-a-day administration), these antimicrobial properties make ketolides an attractive alternative for the treatment of severe respiratory tract infections such as pneumonia in areas with significant resistance to conventional macrolides. For telithromycin (the only registered ketolide so far), pharmacodynamic considerations suggest optimal efficacy for isolates with minimum inhibitory concentration values < or = 0.25 mg/l (pharmacodynamic/pharmacokinetic breakpoint), calling for continuous and careful surveys of bacterial susceptibility. Postmarketing surveillance studies have evidenced rare, but severe, side effects (hepatotoxicity, respiratory failure in patients with myasthenia gravis, visual disturbance and QTc prolongation in combination with other drugs). On these bases, telithromycin indications have been recently restricted by the US FDA to community-acquired pneumonia, and caution in patients at risk has been advocated by the European authorities. Should these side effects be class related, they may hinder the development of other ketolides such as cethromycin (in Phase III, but on hold in the US) or EDP-420 (Phase II).

Vancomycin and teicoplanin are still the only glycopeptide antibiotics available for use in humans. Emergence of resistance in enterococci and staphylococci has led to restriction of their use to severe infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria for which no other alternative is acceptable (because of resistance or allergy). In parallel, considerable efforts have been made to produce semisynthetic glycopeptides with improved pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties, and with activity towards resistant strains. Several molecules have now been obtained, helping to better delineate structure-activity relationships. Two are being currently evaluated for skin and soft tissue infections and are in phases II/III. The first, oritavancin (LY333328), is the 4'-chlorobiphenylmethyl derivative of chloroeremomycin, an analogue to vancomycin. It is characterised by: i) a spectrum covering vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and to some extent glycopeptide-intermediate S. aureus (GISA); ii) rapid bactericidal activity including against the intracellular forms of enterococci and staphylococci; and iii) a prolonged half-life, allowing for daily administration. The second molecule is dalbavancin (BI397), a derivative of the teicoplanin analogue A40926. Dalbavancin has a spectrum of activity similar to that of oritavancin against vancomycin-sensitive strains, but is not active against VRE. It can be administered once a week, based on its prolonged retention in the organism. Despite these remarkable properties, the use of these potent agents should be restricted to severe infections, as should the older glycopeptides, with an extension towards resistant or poorly sensitive bacteria, to limit the risk of potential selection of resistance.

We report a case of bowenoid papulosis in a patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome that was successfully treated with local applications of cidofovir in Beeler base. This treatment should be confirmed as a valuable nonagressive therapy for such potentially invasive viral-induced cell proliferation.

One hundred twenty-nine 111In-oxine-labeled leukocyte scintiscans have been performed in 117 patients with cancer in order to diagnose localized infectious disease. Of the 115 contributive scans, 40 were in patients with localizing signs, whereas in 75 fever of unknown origin constituted the indication for this examination. The overall specificity of the method was 95.4%, the overall sensitivity 86%, and the global accuracy 91.3%. In 10 cases with localizing signs, the 111In-oxine granulocyte scintigram allowed exclusion of the diagnosis of infection, whereas in 17 instances without localizing signs, a focal infectious process was demonstrated. Heterologous donor leukocytes were used successfully in five instances. With the exception of accumulation of label at the site of an osteolytic metastasis in one case, no uptake was observed in primary or secondary tumors. It is concluded that 111In-oxine-labeled leukocytes constitute a valuable tool in the diagnosis and localization of infection in patients with malignant disease.

A reverse phase high-pressure liquid chromatographic method to assay teicoplanin in serum is described. The procedure involves a single protein precipitation step with acetonitrile containing the internal standard mephenesin, followed by direct injection of the supernatant into the chromatograph. This HPLC method has good linearity, precision, recovery and sensitivity over the range of serum concentrations observed with the recommended dosages of the drug (5-50 mg/l). The assay has been validated by a correlation study with a bioassay on 97 sera obtained from patients treated with teicoplanin (r = 0.9519, P less than 0.001). The small serum sample size (100 microliters) and the use of a common C18 column make this assay ideal for drug monitoring, provided that HPLC equipment is available.

In July 1984, two patients fed enteral nutrition solutions contaminated with Enterobacter cloacae developed nosocomial bacteremia. Despite careful review of the preparation procedures as well as repeated microbiological surveys, 83 (27%) of the 309 formula bottles tested over a 1-yr period were contaminated and the source of contamination remained unknown. E. cloacae was the most frequent organism isolated (34%). The plasmid profiles of E. cloacae recovered from enteral nutrition solutions remained identical for several months. Blood culture isolates from 10 of the 40 patients who had developed E. cloacae nosocomial sepsis over a 7-yr period (1979-1985) had plasmid profiles linking them to contaminated enteral nutrition solutions. Epidemiological data from a case control study revealed that these 10 patients were indeed more likely to be exposed to enteral nutrition than the 30 others: 9/10 vs 10/30 (odds ratio 18, p = 0.002). Similarly, two of seven nosocomial Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteremias over a 6-month period in 1986 could be ascribed to administration of contaminated enteral liquid feeds prompting a general policy for using sterile commercially prepared solutions. Our results suggest that contaminated enteral nutrition solutions represent a significant cause of nosocomial sepsis.

International audience; Background V591 (TMV-083) is a live recombinant measles vector-based vaccine candidate expressing a pre-fusion stabilized SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.Methods We performed a randomized, placebo-controlled Phase I trial with an unblinded dose escalation and a dou- ble-blind treatment phase at 2 sites in France and Belgium to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of V591. Ninety healthy SARS-CoV-2 sero-negative adults (18-55 years of age) were randomized into 3 cohorts, each compris- ing 24 vaccinees and 6 placebo recipients. Participants received two intramuscular injections of a low dose vaccine (1 £ 105 median Tissue Culture Infectious Dose [TCID50]), one or two injections of a high dose vaccine (1 £ 106 TCID50), or placebo with a 28 day interval. Safety was assessed by solicited and unsolicited adverse events. Immuno- genicity was measured by SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-binding antibodies, neutralizing antibodies, spike-specific T cell responses, and anti-measles antibodies. ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04497298.Findings Between Aug 10 and Oct 13, 2020, 148 volunteers were screened of whom 90 were randomized. V591 showed a good safety profile at both dose levels. No serious adverse events were reported. At least one treatment- related adverse event was reported by 15 (20.8%) participants receiving V591 vs. 6 (33.3%) of participants receiving placebo. Eighty-one percent of participants receiving two injections of V591 developed spike-binding antibodies after the second injection. However, neutralizing antibodies were detectable on day 56 only in 17% of participants receiv- ing the low dose and 61% receiving the high dose (2 injections). Spike-specific T cell responses were not detected. Pre-existing anti-measles immunity had a statistically significant impact on the immune response to V591, which was in contrast to previous results with the measles vector-based chikungunya vaccine.Interpretation While V591 was generally well tolerated, the immunogenicity was not sufficient to support further development.