Category Archives: Co-infections
Integration of sexually transmitted infection (STI) services into HIV care and treatment services for women living with HIV: A systematic review
OBJECTIVE: To review and critically appraise the existing evidence on integration of sexually transmitted infection (STI) services into HIV care and treatment services for women living with HIV. DESIGN: Systematic...
Community-acquired pneumonia in HIV-positive patients: An update on etiologies, epidemiology and management
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is the cause of a considerable burden of morbidity and mortality among HIV-infected patients. The purpose of this study was to review recent literature...
HCV cure and reinfection among people with HIV/HCV coinfection and people who inject drugs
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Highly effective, well-tolerated interferon-free direct-acting antivirals (DAA) have revolutionised hepatitis C virus (HCV) therapeutics, with the opportunity for broad treatment scale-up among marginalised or “high-risk” populations, including...
Prevalence and burden of toxoplasma gondii infection in HIV-infected people: A systematic review and meta-analysis
BACKGROUND: Worldwide, 30% of the world’s population have antibodies to the intracellular protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii and about 36.7 million people are infected with HIV, but little is known about...
Effectiveness of needle and syringe programmes in people who inject drugs – An overview of systematic reviews
BACKGROUND: Needle and syringe programmes (NSP) are a critical component of harm reduction interventions among people who inject drugs (PWID). Our primary objective was to summarize the evidence on the...
The dynamic role of the IL-33/ST2 axis in chronic viral-infections: Alarming and adjuvanting the immune response
UNLABELLED: Interleukin 33 (IL-33), a member of the IL-1 family, is constitutively expressed in epithelial and in endothelial cells at barrier sites, acting as a danger signal and adjuvanting the...
Influence of vitamin D on liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the pooled clinical trials data
AIM: To investigate the relationship between vitamin D and liver fibrosis in hepatitis C-monoinfected or hepatitis C virus (HCV)-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co-infected patients. METHODS: Pertinent studies were located by...
Maternal HCV infection is associated with intrauterine fetal growth disturbance: A meta-analysis of observational studies
Since the evidence regarding the association between maternal hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and impaired intrauterine fetal growth had not been conclusive, the aim of the present study was to...
Adverse drug reactions during drug-resistant TB treatment in high HIV prevalence settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of adverse drug reactions or events (ADR) during drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) treatment in the context of settings with high HIV prevalence (at least 20% of...
Clinical management of adults and children with multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis
BACKGROUND: Globally there is a burgeoning epidemic of drug monoresistant tuberculosis (TB), multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB). Almost 20% of all TB strains worldwide are resistant to...
Adverse effects of oral second-line antituberculosis drugs in children
INTRODUCTION: Increasing numbers of children with drug-resistant tuberculosis are accessing second-line antituberculosis drugs; these are more toxic than first-line drugs. Little is known about the safety of new antituberculosis drugs...
Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in HIV-infected and HIV-exposed, uninfected children
INTRODUCTION: Incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) among HIV-infected children is 20-40 fold greater compared to HIV-uninfected children, including among HIV-infected children on antiretroviral therapy (ART). Also, HIV-exposed, uninfected children...
