objective: preventing communicable diseases in the armed forces (af) of a country is considered as a national interest and has a great importance. there are limited data on the efficacy of vaccination of the navy personnel. this study was designed to evaluate both the safety and the immunogenicity of a recombinant hepatitis b (hb) vaccine made by pasteur institute of iran (ipi-rhb), in this tar...

AIM to assess the safety and efficacy of telbivudine therapy in adult patients with CHB in Indonesia. METHODS the study design was prospective cohort study. Multicenter study of adult CHB patients requiring oral antiviral therapy in daily practice setting. All patients received 600 mg of telbivudine daily for one year. Recruitment and decision to start telbivudine therapy was based on clinica...

A non-controlled longitudinal study was conducted to evaluate the combined vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) immunogenicity in 150 children vaccinated in the routine of three health units in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2008-2009, without other vaccines administered during the period from 30 days before to 30 days after vaccination. A previous study conducted in Brazil in ...

BACKGROUND The optimum age for measles vaccination varies from country to country and thus a standardized vaccination schedule is controversial. While the increase in measles vaccination coverage has produced significant changes in the epidemiology of infection, vaccination schedules have not been adjusted. Instead, measures to cut wild-type virus transmission through mass vaccination campaigns...

BACKGROUND CD4 cell count is a key measure of HIV disease progression, and the basis of successive international guidelines for treatment initiation. CD4 cell dynamics are used in mathematical and econometric models for evaluating public health need and interventions. Here, we estimate rates of CD4 decline, stratified by relevant covariates, in a form that is clinically transparent and can be d...

BACKGROUND T-cell immunity is thought to play an important role in controlling HIV infection, and is a main target for HIV vaccine development. HIV-specific central memory CD8(+) and CD4(+) T cells producing IFNgamma and IL-2 have been associated with control of viremia and are therefore hypothesized to be truly protective and determine subsequent clinical outcome. However, the cause-effect rel...

INTRODUCTION As an increasing number of malaria-endemic countries approach the disease elimination phase, sustenance of control efforts and effective monitoring are necessary to ensure success. Mathematical models that estimate anti-parasite antibody seroconversion rates are gaining relevance as more sensitive transmission intensity estimation tools. Models however estimate yearly seroconversio...

A model-based approach is developed to estimate the distribution of time from seroconversion to diagnosis with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) as a function of selected time-dependent covariates. The approach is applied to longitudinal data collected over 4 years of follow-up from 450 men seropositive for the human immunodeficiency virus (90 AIDS cases) and 62 seroconverters (nine AID...

BACKGROUND During the winter of 2002-2003, the Israeli health authorities launched a campaign to vaccinate first responders against smallpox. METHODS In an open study, 159 healthy, preimmunized adults, 24-52 years old, who participated in the campaign were vaccinated with the Lister strain of vaccinia virus by the multipuncture technique. The safety, immunogenicity, and reactogenicity of the ...

To assess trends in HIV-1 incidence and risk factors for seroconversion among men who have sex with men (MSM) resident in Rome, Italy, a retrospective longitudinal cohort study was conducted over 25 years. Incidence rates and trends were modelled using Poisson regression and risk factors were assessed by multivariate Cox models. Of 1,862 HIV-1-negative individuals, 347 seroconverted during foll...