Publications by authors named "Akum Aveika Awasana"
Background: Although AIDS is less frequent following HIV-2 than HIV-1 infection, it is unclear whether the clinical picture and clinical course of AIDS are similar in the two infections.
Objectives: To compare the pattern of AIDS-defining events, CD4 cell count at the time of AIDS diagnosis, survival from time of AIDS, and CD4 cell count near time of death in HIV-1 and HIV-2-infected patients.
Methods: Adult patients with AIDS who attended the clinics of the MRC in The Gambia were enrolled.
Background: The HIV-1 epidemic in West Africa is characterized by a slower rise than that in Eastern and Southern Africa. The HIV-2 epidemic in West Africa may be declining, but few long-term data exist.
Methods: In a research clinic in The Gambia, HIV-1 and HIV-2 prevalence trends among all new patients being tested for HIV were examined over a 16 year period (1988 till 2003).
Objectives: To estimate and compare the all-cause mortality rates among HIV-1-infected, HIV-2-infected, and uninfected women and to assess the predictive value of baseline plasma viral load (PVL) and CD4 cell percentage (CD4%) for mortality.
Design: Cohort study.
Methods: At presentation to antenatal clinics in The Gambia in 1993-1995, pregnant women were screened for antibodies to HIV-1 and HIV-2.
Background: The risk of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV-2 is much lower than that of HIV-1, but the long-term prognosis of perinatally infected HIV-2 children is unknown. We re-visited children who were part of a large MTCT study in The Gambia (conducted during 1993-1997), in order to compare the long-term survival of children perinatally infected with HIV-2 with that of seronegative and of HIV-1 infected children.
Methods: Five to eight years' follow-up of a cohort of children born to HIV-negative, HIV-1 positive, and HIV-2 positive mothers.
Objective: To monitor HIV-1 and HIV-2 trends in The Gambia, West Africa.
Methods: In 1993-1995 a nationwide survey among 29 670 pregnant women attending eight antenatal clinics estimated the seroprevalence of HIV-1 at 0.6%, and of HIV-2 at 1.
Objective: To examine baseline plasma viral loads according to the CD4 cell percentage (CD4%) in HIV-1, HIV-2 and dually infected patients (HIV-D), and to relate these measurements to survival.
Patients And Methods: A total of 119 HIV-1, 137 HIV-2 and 81 HIV-D-infected patients attending the Medical Research Council clinic in The Gambia were recruited from 1991 according to baseline CD4%, and followed until death or the end of December 2000. HIV-1 and HIV-2 RNA levels were measured by in-house reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assays.
Background: Diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis (BV) in resource-poor primary health care settings is often overlooked; there is a need for a cheap, rapid, objective point-of-care diagnostic test.
Goal: The goal was to determine the prevalence of BV and to evaluate the performance of a new commercial diagnostic test kit in a developing country environment.
Study Design: Vaginal and cervical swabs were collected from 230 consecutive women attending a genitourinary medicine clinic with reported symptoms of vaginal discharge and/or itching.