ObjectiveLinkage to care is the bridge between HIV testing and HIV treatment, care and support. In Tanzania, mobile testing aims to address historically low testing rates. Linkage to care was reported at 14% in 2009 and 28% in 2014. The study compares linkage to care of HIV-positive individuals tested at mobile/outreach versus public health facility-based services within the first 6 months of HIV diagnosis.SettingRural communities in four districts of Mbeya Region, Tanzania.ParticipantsA total of 1012 newly diagnosed HIV-positive adults from 16 testing facilities were enrolled into a two-armed cohort and followed for 6 months between August 2014 and July 2015. 840 (83%) participants completed the study.Main outcome measuresWe compared the ratios and time variance in linkage to care using the Kaplan-Meier estimator and Log rank tests. Cox proportional hazards regression models to evaluate factors associated with time variance in linkage.ResultsAt the end of 6 months, 78% of all respondents had linked into care, with differences across testing models. 84% (CI 81% to 87%, n=512) of individuals tested at facility-based site were linked to care compared to 69% (CI 65% to 74%, n=281) of individuals tested at mobile/outreach. The median time to linkage was 1 day (IQR: 1–7.5) for facility-based site and 6 days (IQR: 3–11) for mobile/outreach sites. Participants tested at facility-based site were 78% more likely to link than those tested at mobile/outreach when other variables were controlled (AHR=1.78; 95% CI 1.52 to 2.07). HIV status disclosure to family/relatives was significantly associated with linkage to care (AHR=2.64; 95% CI 2.05 to 3.39).ConclusionsLinkage to care after testing HIV positive in rural Tanzania has increased markedly since 2014, across testing models. Individuals tested at facility-based sites linked in significantly higher proportion and modestly sooner than mobile/outreach tested individuals. Mobile/outreach testing models bring HIV testing services closer to people. Strategies to improve linkage from mobile/outreach models are needed.

We searched PubMed Central for all studies or reports of lipoarabinomannan for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis in children. We used search terms "pulmonary tuberculosis" OR "ptb" AND "child" OR "infant" OR "adolescent" AND "lipoarabinomannan" OR "lam" AND "urine", up to Mar 9, 2020. No language restrictions were applied. Our search returned five relevant publications that included children below 15 years undergoing LAM testing of urine for diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculous using AlereLAM. None of the studies used FujiLAM. The sensitivity of LAM, compared with confirmed TB, ranged from 48•3% to 73•2% for all children. Even though the WHO has recommended the use of AlereLAM to aid in the diagnosis of TB in children and adolescents with HIV, the test still shows sub-optimal sensitivity in most studies.When we searched using the search terms "fuji silvamp tb" OR "fujilam" OR "fuji silvamp tb lam", we found two relevant studies, both of which were performed in adults with HIV and found that FujiLAM had a notably higher sensitivity than AlereLAM. No comparison of the two tests in children has been done to date, and the role of FujiLAM in childhood PTB diagnosis remains unknown.

We demonstrated excellent Xpert HIV-1 Qual performance and good operational feasibility for PoC-EID testing at obstetric health facilities. Week 6 sensitivity issues were possibly related to nevirapine prophylaxis, supporting additional birth PoC-EID testing to avoid under diagnosis.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and associated public health responses have disrupted daily living activities with economic and health consequences globally. We observed transient decreases in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) clinic visit adherence and food security among persons living with HIV early in the pandemic, and an increase in viral suppression later in the pandemic.

Background: Protease inhibitors (PIs) are believed to affect insulin sensitivity. We aimed to analyze the effect of PIs on insulin sensitivity and the onset of diabetes mellitus (DM) in patients with HIV.Methodology: We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, ClinicalTrals.gov, and the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform till November 2020 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that studied the effects of PIs on insulin sensitivity and DM in patients with HIV. We followed the PRISMA and PICOS frameworks to develop the search strategy. We used the random-effects meta-analysis model to estimate the mean difference (MD), standardized mean difference (SMD), and risk ratios for our outcomes, using Stata 14 software.Results: We included nine RCTs that enrolled 1,000 participants, with their ages ranging from 18 to 69 years. The parameters and investigations used in the studies to determine insulin sensitivity were glucose disposal rates, hyperglycemia, and mean glucose uptake. The majority of results showed an association between PIs and insulin sensitivity. The pooled analysis showed no statistically significant difference in insulin sensitivity with atazanavir, whether the study was performed on healthy individuals for a short term or long term in combination with other drugs like tenofovir or emtricitabine [SMD = 0.375, 95% CI (0.035, 0.714)]. The analysis showed reduced glucose disposal rates and hence reduced insulin sensitivity with lopinavir (heterogeneity chi-squared = 0.68, I-squared [variation in SMD attributable to heterogeneity] = 0.0%, p = 0.031). The heterogeneity with chi-squared was substantial (61–80%), while with I-squared was not significant (0–40%), p = 0.031). Less adverse events were observed with atazanavir than with lopinavir [RR = 0.987, 95% CI (0.849, 1.124)]. Darunavir and indinavir did not demonstrate any significant changes in insulin sensitivity. Most of the studies were found to have a low risk of bias.Conclusions: There are significant variations in the effects of PIs on insulin sensitivity and onsets of DM. Atazanavir, fosamprenavir, and darunavir did not demonstrate any significant changes in insulin sensitivity, compared to the rest of the group. There is a need to assess the benefits of PIs against the long-term risk of impaired insulin sensitivity. All patients newly diagnosed with HIV should have DM investigations before the start of ARVs and routinely. RCTs should focus on sub-Saharan Africa as the region is worst affected by HIV, but limited studies have been documented.