Challenges and Pragmatic Solutions for Assessing the Reliability of HIV-1 Viral Load Monitoring in Resource-Constrained Settings.

Introduction: HIV-1 RNA detection is the most reliable method for monitoring treatment response among people living with HIV. Effective quality control measures that include internal quality control (IQC) are challenging in resource-constrained settings.

Methods: We ascertained the utility of the kit low positive control (LPC) as an effective IQC to monitor the reliability of the HIV-1 viral load assay.

Autoantibodies Among HIV-1 Infected Individuals and the Effect of Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) on It.

Background: Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has led to a decline in autoimmune diseases but lacks studies on its effect on autoantibodies.

Methods: It is a cross-sectional study with archived samples from 100 paired HIV-1 infected ART naïve and experienced individuals and 100 prospectively collected matched blood-donor controls. Antinuclear antibody, IgG anticardiolipin antibody, IgM and IgG β2 glycoprotein-1 antibodies, and total IgG levels were detected.

Associations between open drain flooding and pediatric enteric infections in the MAL-ED cohort in a low-income, urban neighborhood in Vellore, India.

Background: Open drains are common methods of transporting solid waste and excreta in low-income urban neighborhoods. Open drains can overflow due to blockages with solid waste and during rainfall, posing exposure risks. The goal of this study was to evaluate whether pediatric enteric infection was associated with open drains and flooding in a dense, low-income, urban neighborhood.

Household sanitation is associated with lower risk of bacterial and protozoal enteric infections, but not viral infections and diarrhoea, in a cohort study in a low-income urban neighbourhood in Vellore, India.

Objective: This study examined associations between household sanitation and enteric infection - including diarrhoeal-specific outcomes - in children 0-2 years of age in a low-income, dense urban neighbourhood.

Methods: As part of the MAL-ED study, 230 children in a low-income, urban, Indian neighbourhood provided stool specimens at 14-17 scheduled time points and during diarrhoeal episodes in the first 2 years of life that were analysed for bacterial, parasitic (protozoa and helminths) and viral pathogens. From interviews with caregivers in 100 households, the relationship between the presence (and discharge) of household sanitation facilities and any, pathogen-specific, and diarrhoea-specific enteric infection was tested through mixed-effects Poisson regression models.