Latent Tuberculosis Infection Testing Strategies for HIV-Positive Individuals in Hong Kong.

Importance: With immune recovery following early initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART), the risk of tuberculosis (TB) reactivation among individuals with HIV could be reduced. The current strategy of annual latent TB infection (LTBI) testing should be revisited to increase cost-effectiveness and reduce the intensity of testing for individuals.

Objective: To analyze the cost-effectiveness of LTBI testing strategies for individuals in Hong Kong with HIV who had negative LTBI test results at baseline.

A longitudinal study on latent TB infection screening and its association with TB incidence in HIV patients.

Latent TB infection (LTBI) in HIV patients, its treatment, and immunological recovery following highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) could interact and impact TB disease progression. We aim to examine the factors associated with LTBI and TB disease development among HIV patients. Longitudinal clinical and laboratory data were accessed from the largest HIV specialist clinic in Hong Kong, where HAART and yearly LTBI screening are routinely provided for HIV patients.

Screening and treatment of latent tuberculosis infection among HIV-infected patients in resource-rich settings.

Current international guidelines recommend screening and treatment of latent tuberculosis (TB) infection in HIV-infected patients in all settings. The main factors affecting the risk of TB in HIV-infected patients include the level of immunosuppression, coverage of antiretroviral therapy and local TB burden. In resource-rich settings where antiretroviral therapy is more accessible and HIV-infected patients are expected to be diagnosed at an earlier stage, local TB burden remains a key factor on their risk of TB.

Epidemiology of sexually transmitted viral hepatitis in human immunodeficiency virus-positive men who have sex with men in Asia.

Both human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and viral hepatitis constitute major disease burden globally. As with other parts of the world, the HIV epidemic in Asia impacts mainly on men who have sex with men, one of the at-risk populations for sexually transmitted viral hepatitis. With the increasing availability of effective antiretroviral therapy, HIV-related mortality of people living with HIV has markedly reduced.

More safer sex intervention needed for HIV-positive MSM with higher education level for prevention of sexually transmitted hepatitis C.

Introduction: The epidemiology of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections in Chinese HIV-infected men who have sex with men (MSM) remains obscure. More data is required to understand the epidemic and set up preventive strategy.

Materials And Methods: Baseline and annual testing of anti-HCV was in place for all HIV-infected MSM in the largest HIV clinic in Hong Kong.

Accelerating prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV: ten-year experience of universal antenatal HIV testing programme in a low HIV prevalence setting in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong has a low prevalence of HIV infection at less than 0.01%. Universal Antenatal HIV Testing Programme (UATP) was launched in all public antenatal units in September 2001.

Clinical and molecular epidemiology of human rhinovirus C in children and adults in Hong Kong reveals a possible distinct human rhinovirus C subgroup.

Background: A novel human rhinovirus (HRV) species, HRV-C, was recently discovered, but its clinical features and epidemiology, compared with HRV-A and HRV-B, remains poorly understood, especially in adults.

Methods: One thousand two hundred nasopharyngeal aspirate samples obtained from hospitalized children and adults during a 1-year period were subject to reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction to detect HRV. The clinical and molecular epidemiology of the 3 HRV species was analyzed.

Surgical site abscess caused by Lactobacillus fermentum identified by 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing.

We report the first case of surgical site abscess caused by Lactobacillus fermentum from a 53-year-old woman with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus after transthoracic esophagectomy and neoadjuvant chemoirradiation. 16S rRNA gene sequencing is a useful tool to better characterize the epidemiology and clinical significance of L. fermentum.