Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) is the cause of most genital herpes while HSV-1 is responsible for orolabial and facial lesions. In immunocompromised individuals, like HIV patients, impaired immunity leads to more frequent symptomatic and asymptomatic HSV infection. Fifty-two blood samples from HIV patients with clinically diagnosed HSV infection were taken as cases, while 45 blood samples each from HIV-infected (HIV control) and noninfected patients without any herpetic lesion (non-HIV control) were taken as control. Serum was tested for IgM and IgG antibodies of both HSV-1 and HSV-2 by ELISA. The seroprevalence was compared among the three groups of study population, considering the demographic and socioeconomic parameters. The HSV-2 IgM was significantly higher (p < 0.005) in the HIV patient group (34.6%) than the HIV control (2.2%) and non-HIV control (2.2%) groups, whereas HSV-2 IgG seroprevalence was higher in both HIV patient (61.5%) and HIV control (57.8%) groups than the non-HIV control group (17.8%). The prevalence of HSV-2 was significantly higher in persons with multiple partners and in the reproductive age group. The overall seroprevalence of HSV-1 IgM was too low (<5%), whereas it was too high (about 90%) with HSV-1 IgG in all three study groups.

India provided one of the most challenging chapters of the worldwide smallpox eradication program. The campaign was converted from a project in which a handful of officials tried to impose their ideas on a complex health bureaucracy to one in which its components were constantly adapted to the requirements of a variety of social, political, and economic contexts. This change, achieved mainly through the active participation of workers drawn from local communities in the 1970s, proved to be a momentous policy adaptation that contributed to certification of smallpox eradication in 1980. However, this lesson appears to have been largely forgotten by those currently managing the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. We hope to show ways in which contemporary efforts to eliminate polio worldwide might profitably draw on historical information, which can indicate meaningful ways in which institutional adaptability is likely to help counter the political and social challenges being encountered in India.

Background:This article examines the multifaceted structures and complex operations of the World Health Organization and its regional offices; it also reassesses the form and the workings of the global smallpox eradication programme with which these bodies were closely linked in the 1960s and 1970s.Methods:Using the case study of South Asia, it seeks to highlight the importance of writing nuanced histories of international health campaigns through an assessment of differences between official rhetoric and practice.Results and conclusion:The article argues that the detailed examination of the implementation of policy in a variety of localities, within and across national borders, allows us to recognise the importance of the agency of field managers and workers. This analytical approach also helps us acknowledge that communities were able to influence the shape and the timing of completion of public health campaigns in myriad ways. This, in turn, can provide useful pointers for the design and management of health programmes in the contemporary world.

Background-Outcomes among inotrope-treated heart failure (HF) patients receiving cardiac resynchronization (CRT) have not been well characterized, particularly in those requiring intravenous inotropes at the time of implant.

for the supply of images in this book. Each image is individually credited. Last, but not least, we are very grateful for the continuing and generous support of the Wellcome Trust, UK. This publication is made possible by a Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator Award given to

Background Preoperative atrial fibrillation is associated with poor outcomes after cardiac surgery, but its effect on lung transplantation outcomes remains unknown. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the charts of 235 patients who underwent lung transplantation in our institution from 2013 to 2015, analyzing demographics, length of stay, survival, readmissions, and cardiac events. Mean recipient age was 59 ± 11 years, and 142 (60.4%) were men. Patients were grouped according to pre-transplantation atrial fibrillation status (atrial fibrillation/no atrial fibrillation). Results The atrial fibrillation group ( n = 38; 16.2%) was significantly older with a longer ischemic time, more postoperative atrial arrhythmias (73.7% vs. 20.8%, p = 0.01), and a longer median postoperative length of stay (16 vs. 13 days, p = 0.02). The median total hospital stay in the first postoperative year was also higher in the atrial fibrillation group (27 vs. 21 days, p = 0.25). Short-term survival and survival during follow-up did not differ significantly between groups. Conclusions Lung transplant recipients with preoperative atrial fibrillation are at increased risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes and longer hospital stay. Preoperative atrial fibrillation may portend adverse events after lung transplantation.

Histories of the global smallpox eradication programme have tended to concentrate on the larger national formations in Africa and Asia. This focus is generally justified by chroniclers by the fact that these locations contributed a major share of the world's annual tally of variola, which meant that international agencies paid a lot of attention to working with officials in national and local government on anti-smallpox campaigns in these territories. Such historiographical trends have led to the marginalisation of the histories of smallpox eradication programmes in smaller nations, which are presented either in heroic, institutional tropes as peripheral or as being largely shorn of sustained campaigns against the disease. Using a case study of Bhutan, a small Himalayan kingdom sandwiched between India and China, an effort is made to reclaim the historical experiences in small national entities in the worldwide smallpox eradication programme. Bhutan's experience in the 1960s and 1970s allows much more in addition. It provides us with a better understanding of the limited powers of international agencies in areas considered politically sensitive by the governments of powerful nations such as India. The resulting methodological suggestions are of wider historical and historiographical relevance.

No abstract