Journal club articles, by date with most recent first
Acute HIV infection in first six months of life: case report
published 29-07-2007
Views : 492
Times marked as favorite : 41
A case report of a 6 month old infant with a acute HIV infection probably acquired while breastfeeding during the primary infection in the mother. Symptoms: "Our patient's prolonged viral syndrome, including fever, pancytopenia, hepatitis, encephalitis, and hemolysis may all be explained by an acute retroviral syndrome."
It's worth reading the entire case report since there is relatively little known about acute HIV infection in infancy. One of the promising references quoted in this study is also given below (Rouet et al.)
Rectal administration of artemisinin antimalarials generally effective--a meta-analysis
published 29-07-2007
Views : 573
Times marked as favorite : 46
"Conclusions Available rectal preparations of artemisinin derivatives differ in their pharmacokinetic disposition. Most available evidence pertains to artesunate and artemisinin. Despite marked interindividual variability in bioavailability, rectal preparations appear to have acceptable therapeutic efficacy, including in severe illness." (Emphasis added).
HIV-infected women in some areas may benefit from more frequent IPT for malaria
published 29-07-2007
Views : 620
Times marked as favorite : 50
"Conclusions In areas in which 1 of 4 treatments with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine fail in children by day 14, the 2-dose IPT [intermittent preventive therapy] with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine regimen continues to provide substantial benefit to HIV-negative semi-immune pregnant women. However, more frequent dosing is required in HIV-positive women not using cotrimoxazole prophylaxis for opportunistic infections."
Improved Diagnostic Testing and Malaria Treatment Practices in Zambia
published 29-07-2007
Views : 645
Times marked as favorite : 61
Discusses increased availability and use of rapid antigen-detection diagnostic tests (RDT) for malaria. Conclusion: "Despite efforts to expand the provision of malaria diagnostics in Zambia, they continue to be underused and patients with negative test results frequently receive antimalarials. Provision of new tools to reduce inappropriate use of new expensive antimalarial treatments must be accompanied by a major change in clinical treatment of patients presenting with fever but lacking evidence of malaria infection."
False positive results not uncommon for HIV rapid tests in Uganda
published 29-07-2007
Views : 538
Times marked as favorite : 43
"In summary, using an algorithm of three rapid HIV tests, we found that 5.8% of results showed weak positive bands on one or more tests and that 94.1% of samples with weak positive results were negative or indeterminate on enzyme immunoassay or western blotting. We conclude that weak positive bands on rapid tests cannot be interpreted as positive in serum from Ugandan populations."
"Weak positive bands on rapid tests for HIV should be confirmed by enzyme immunoassay and western blotting before disclosing the diagnosis. Programmes using rapid tests routinely should use standard serological assays for quality control."
