Little is known about the optimal treatment following the initial failure of interferon therapy and the potential different efficacy with de novo therapy with entecavir (ETV) or telbivudine (LDT) and following the interferon therapy failure.ETV or LDT therapy following the interferon therapy failure was compared with that of de novo therapy with ETV or LDT in patients with chronic hepatitis B v...

OBJECTIVES (1) To assess the HIV incidence rate among men who have sex with men (MSM) in a large cohort study in Beijing, China and (2) to identify sociodemographic and behavioural risk factors of HIV seroconversion among MSM in Beijing, China. DESIGN A prospective cohort study. SETTING Baseline and follow-up visits were conducted among MSM in Beijing, China. PARTICIPANTS A cohort of 797 ...

Rapid HIV test in labour provide an opportunity for the identification of HIV positive pregnant women who should benefit from interventions to reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV. Between November 2013 and June 2014 we conducted rapid HIV testing of pregnant women in labour at the National Hospital Abuja to determine the HIV seroconversion rate in pregnancy and the pre...

Despite the use of hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccines and preventive measures, infection with HBV remains a major global health problem. Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at an increased risk of acquiring HBV infections from shared dialysis equipment, increased exposure to blood products, and immunodeficiency associated with CKD (1, 2). In addition, they may be more likely to develop...

BACKGROUND HCV exposure among blood donors is serologically determined by detection of antibodies to HCV (anti-HCV); however, the recent development of an assay for the detection of HCV core antigen identifies infection before anti-HCV development. Simultaneous detection of HCV core antigen and anti-HCV would shorten the window period before seroconversion over conventional HCV antibody screeni...

PCV-2 within- and between-pen transmission was quantified by estimating the daily transmission rate beta and the basic reproduction ratio (R(0)) using a stochastic SEIR (Susceptible, Exposed, Infectious, Removed) model fitted on experimental data. Within-pen transmission was quantified by using four groups of eight SPF (specific pathogen-free) pigs (four infected and four susceptible pigs havin...

INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to determine hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seroclearance rate among patients treated with lamivudine at a specialized tertiary care referral hospital in Tehran, Iran. METHODS All patients on lamivudine (biovudin®) therapy at a dose of 100 mg/day, who showed seroclearnace between March 2001 and September 2011 were recruited. The main evaluation para...

Estimating HIV-1 incidence (rate of new HIV-1 infections) in various populations is important to understand the current status of transmission dynamics, identify high-risk populations, monitor prevention efforts and target resources on programmes that are most effective in reducing transmissions. Recent developments in our ability to detect and distinguish recent and longterm HIV-1 infections u...

We examined the replicative properties of a series of sequential isolates and biological clones of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) obtained from an individual who progressed from seroconversion to AIDS in approximately 5 years. HIV-1 isolated soon after seroconversion replicated slowly and to low levels in cultures of peripheral blood mononuclear cells; however, subsequent isolates ...

Recent-infection testing assays/algorithms (RITAs) have been developed to exploit the titer and avidity of HIV antibody evolution following seroconversion for incidence estimation. The Vitros Anti-HIV 1+2 assay (Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics) was approved by the FDA to detect HIV-1 and HIV-2 infections. We developed a less-sensitive (LS) and an avidity-modified version of this assay to detect rece...