SUMMARYThe aetiology of sporadic campylobacter infection was investigated by means of a multicentre case-control study. During the course of the study 598 cases and their controls were interviewed.Conditional logistic regressional analysis of the data collected showed that occupational exposure to raw meat (odds ratio [OR] 9 37; 95 % confidence intervals [CI] 2 03, 43 3), having a household with a pet with diarrhoea (OR 2-39; CI 1P09, 5 25), and ingesting untreated water from lakes, rivers and streams (OR 4 16; CI 1.45, 11.9) were significant independent risk factors for becoming ill with campylobacter. Handling any whole chicken in the domestic kitchen that had been bought raw with giblets, or eating any dish cooked from chicken of this type in the home (OR 0 41-0-44; CI 0-24, 0 79) and occupational contact with livestock or their faeces (OR 0 44; CI 0-21, 0 92) were significantly associated with a decrease in the risk of becoming ill with campylobacter.

BackgroundAmong people living with HIV/AIDS, nutritional support is increasingly recognized as a critical part of the essential package of care, especially for patients in sub-Saharan Africa. The objectives of the study were to evaluate the outcomes of HIV-positive malnourished adults treated with ready-to-use therapeutic food and to identify factors associated with nutrition programme failure.MethodsWe present results from a retrospective cohort analysis of patients aged 15 years or older with a body mass index of less than 17 kg/m2 enrolled in three HIV/AIDS care programmes in Africa between March 2006 and August 2008. Factors associated with nutrition programme failure (patients discharged uncured after six or more months of nutritional care, defaulting from nutritional care, remaining in nutritional care for six or more months, or dead) were investigated using multiple logistic regression.ResultsOverall, 1340 of 8685 (15.4%) HIV-positive adults were enrolled in the nutrition programme. At admission, median body mass index was 15.8 kg/m2 (IQR 14.9-16.4) and 12% received combination antiretroviral therapy (ART). After a median of four months of follow up (IQR 2.2-6.1), 524 of 1106 (47.4%) patients were considered cured. An overall total of 531 of 1106 (48.0%) patients failed nutrition therapy, 132 (11.9%) of whom died and 250 (22.6%) defaulted from care. Men (OR = 1.5, 95% CI 1.2-2.0), patients with severe malnutrition at nutrition programme enrolment (OR = 2.2, 95% CI 1.7-2.8), and those never started on ART (OR = 4.5, 95% CI 2.7-7.7 for those eligible; OR = 1.6, 95% CI 1.0-2.5 for those ineligible for ART at enrolment) were at increased risk of nutrition programme failure. Diagnosed tuberculosis at nutrition programme admission or during follow up, and presence of diarrhoeal disease or extensive candidiasis at admission, were unrelated to nutrition programme failure.ConclusionsConcomitant administration of ART and ready-to-use therapeutic food increases the chances of nutritional recovery in these high-risk patients. While adequate nutrition is necessary to treat malnourished HIV patients, development of improved strategies for the management of severely malnourished patients with HIV/AIDS are urgently needed.

Supplementary immunization activities are crucial to reduce the number of susceptible children.

Introduction Routinely monitoring the HIV viral load ( VL ) of people living with HIV ( PLHIV ) on anti‐retroviral therapy ( ART ) facilitates intensive adherence counselling and faster ART regimen switch when treatment failure is indicated. Yet standard VL ‐testing in centralized laboratories can be time‐intensive and logistically difficult in low‐resource settings. This paper evaluates the outcomes of the first four years of routine VL ‐monitoring using Point‐of‐Care technology, implemented by Médecins Sans Frontières ( MSF ) in rural clinics in Malawi. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of patients eligible for routine VL ‐ testing between 2013 and 2017 in four decentralized ART ‐clinics and the district hospital in Chiradzulu, Malawi. We assessed VL ‐testing coverage and the treatment failure cascade (from suspected failure (first VL >1000 copies/ mL ) to VL suppression post regimen switch). We used descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression to assess factors associated with suspected failure. Results and Discussion Among 21,400 eligible patients, VL ‐testing coverage was 85% and VL suppression was found in 89% of those tested. In the decentralized clinics, 88% of test results were reviewed on the same day as blood collection, whereas in the district hospital the median turnaround‐time for results was 85 days. Among first‐line ART patients with suspected failure (N = 1544), 30% suppressed ( VL <1000 copies/ mL ), 35% were treatment failures (confirmed by subsequent VL ‐testing) and 35% had incomplete VL follow‐up. Among treatment failures, 80% (N = 540) were switched to a second‐line regimen, with a higher switching rate in the decentralized clinics than in the district hospital (86% vs. 67%, p < 0.01) and a shorter median time‐to‐switch (6.8 months vs. 9.7 months, p < 0.01). Similarly, the post‐switch VL ‐testing rate was markedly higher in the decentralized clinics (61% vs. 26%, p < 0.01). Overall, 79% of patients with a post‐switch VL ‐test were suppressed. Conclusions Viral load testing at the point‐of‐care in Chiradzulu, Malawi achieved high coverage and good drug regimen switch rates among those identified as treatment failures. In...

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