In-Hospital Screening Campaign Against Hepatitis C Could Be Effective for Identifying More Patients Who Still Need Treatment.

Background: Screening programmes for the detection of patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and positive viral load have been developed in many countries to achieve the World Health Organization's goal of HCV elimination by 2030. In Italy, a phased screening programme starting with individuals born between 1969 and 1989 has been implemented.

Aim: To assess the prevalence of patients with positive viraemia identified through a universal screening campaign conducted among hospitalised patients at our centre during the calendar year 2022.

Neutralising reactivity against SARS-CoV-2 Delta and Omicron variants by vaccination and infection history.

Background: The continuous emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) with immune escape properties, such as Delta (B.1.617.

Longitudinal analysis of T cell receptor repertoires reveals shared patterns of antigen-specific response to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

T cells play a prominent role in orchestrating the immune response to viral diseases, but their role in the clinical presentation and subsequent immunity to SARS-CoV-2 infection remains poorly understood. As part of a population-based survey of the municipality of Vo', Italy, conducted after the initial SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, we sampled the T cell receptor (TCR) repertoires of the population 2 months after the initial PCR survey and followed up positive cases 9 and 15 months later. At 2 months, we found that 97.

SARS-CoV-2 antibody dynamics and transmission from community-wide serological testing in the Italian municipality of Vo'.

In February and March 2020, two mass swab testing campaigns were conducted in Vo', Italy. In May 2020, we tested 86% of the Vo' population with three immuno-assays detecting antibodies against the spike and nucleocapsid antigens, a neutralisation assay and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Subjects testing positive to PCR in February/March or a serological assay in May were tested again in November.

A first molecular characterization of Listeria monocytogenes isolates circulating in humans from 2009 to 2014 in the Italian Veneto region.

Listeriosis is a disease usually associated with the consumption of low-processed ready-to-eat food products contaminated by Listeria monocytogenes. In Italy, listeriosis has an incidence of 0.19-0.

Drug resistance in B and non-B subtypes amongst subjects recently diagnosed as primary/recent or chronic HIV-infected over the period 2013-2016: Impact on susceptibility to first-line strategies including integrase strand-transfer inhibitors.

Objectives: To characterize the prevalence of transmitted drug resistance mutations (TDRMs) by plasma analysis of 750 patients at the time of HIV diagnosis from January 1, 2013 to November 16, 2016 in the Veneto region (Italy), where all drugs included in the recommended first line therapies were prescribed, included integrase strand transfer inhibitors (InNSTI).

Methods: TDRMs were defined according to the Stanford HIV database algorithm.

Results: Subtype B was the most prevalent HIV clade (67.

Decreasing trends of drug resistance and increase of non-B subtypes amongst subjects recently diagnosed as HIV-infected over the period 2004-2012 in the Veneto Region, Italy.

The present study was designed to prospectively monitor transmitted drug resistance mutations (TDRMs) in the Veneto Region, Italy. Genotypic resistance testing was conducted on the plasma of 1882 patients consecutively enrolled at the time of diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection from 2004 to 2012. TDRMs were defined according to the Stanford HIV database algorithm.

A stable CC-chemokine receptor (CCR)-5 tropic virus is correlated with the persistence of HIV RNA at less than 2.5 copies in successfully treated naïve subjects.

Background: To determine if tropism for CXCR4 or CCR5 correlates with cellular HIV DNA load, residual viraemia and CD4 count in 219 successfully treated naive subjects with HIV infection enrolled in five infectious diseases units in Northeastern Italy.

Methods: A subset of subjects, achieving plasma HIV RNA level <50 copies/ml after initiation of first-line therapy and maintaining it until follow-up time points, was retrospectively selected from a prospective cohort. Blood samples were collected before the beginning of therapy (T0), at the first follow-up time (T1) and, when available, at a second (T2) follow-up time.

Baseline cellular HIV DNA load predicts HIV DNA decline and residual HIV plasma levels during effective antiretroviral therapy.

Cellular human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) DNA may be considered a marker of disease progression with significant predictive power, but published data on its correlation with plasma HIV RNA levels and CD4 counts in acute and chronic patients are not conclusive. We evaluated a cohort of 180 patients naïve for antiretroviral therapy before the beginning of treatment and after a virological response in order to define the indicators correlated with HIV DNA load decrease until undetectability. The following variables were evaluated as continuous variables: age, CD4 cell count and log(10) HIV DNA level at baseline and follow-up, and baseline log(10) HIV RNA level.

Anal and oral human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in HIV-infected subjects in northern Italy: a longitudinal cohort study among men who have sex with men.

Background: A study including 166 subjects was performed to investigate the frequency and persistence over a 6-month interval of concurrent oral and anal Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infections in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-infected men who have sex with men (MSM).

Methods: Patients with no previously documented HPV-related anogenital lesion/disease were recruited to participate in a longitudinal study. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to detect HPV from oral and anal swabs and to detect Human Herpes Virus 8 (HHV-8) DNA in saliva on 2 separate specimen series, one collected at baseline and the other collected 6 months later.

KSHV DNA viremia correlates with low CD4+ cell count in Italian males at the time of diagnosis of HIV infection.

To evaluate the relevance and the virological and immunological markers of Kaposi sarcoma herpesvirus 8 (KSHV) viremia in Italian male patients at the time of diagnosis of infection with HIV-1, 481 men infected with HIV were recruited consecutively. The presence of KSHV DNA was evaluated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and in plasma and correlated with demographic and viro-immunological parameters. Seventy-four patients had KSHV DNA detected in PBMCs.

Deep neck abscess due to Acinetobacter baumannii infection.

Acinetobacter baumannii strains are isolated in up to 1% of nosocomial infections mostly from intensive care units immunocompromised patients and are associated with high mortality rates. A baumannii infections include pneumonia, urinary tract infection, endocarditis, skin and soft-tissue infections, surgical-site infection, meningitis, osteomyelitis, and septicemia. We report an extremely rare case of deep neck abscess due to multidrug-resistant A baumannii infection.

Torque Teno Virus: any pathological role in liver transplanted patients?

Few studies have been performed on the prevalence of Torque Teno Virus (TTV) infection in liver transplant (LT) recipients. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence, viremia and genogroup pattern of TTV among LT patients and to ascertain whether TTV causes liver damage in liver transplanted patients with biochemical and histological changes of unknown origin. Twenty-five patients were evaluated before and after LT; 80 healthy subjects were considered as controls.

Endogenous interferon-alpha level is increased in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-positive pregnant women.

Background: Mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been reported in around 5% of cases, and is much more likely to occur in case of coinfection with HIV. However, other cofactors influencing the vertical transmission are still debated.

Aim: To assess the serum concentration of endogenous interferon (IFN) during pregnancy, and its eventual role on the vertical transmission of HCV.

Cellular HIV-1 DNA quantitation in patients during simplification therapy with protease inhibitor-sparing regimens.

Simplified regimens containing protease-inhibitors (PI)-sparing combinations were used in patients with virological suppression after prolonged highly active antiretroviral therapy. This study evaluated the total HIV-1 DNA quantitation as a predictor of long-term success for PI-sparing simplified therapy. Sixty-two patients were enrolled in a prospective non-randomized cohort.

Both human immunodeficiency virus cellular DNA sequencing and plasma RNA sequencing are useful for detection of drug resistance mutations in blood samples from antiretroviral-drug-naive patients.

Genotypic antiretroviral testing is recommended for newly infected drug-naive subjects, and the material of choice is plasma RNA. Since drug resistance mutations (DRMs) may persist longer in cellular DNA than in plasma RNA, we investigated whether the use of peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) DNA increases the sensitivity of genotypic testing in antiretroviral-drug-naive subjects. We compared the rate of primary drug resistance in plasma RNA and PBMC DNA in 288 HIV type 1-infected drug-naive persons tested at a single clinical virology center from June 2004 to October 2006.

Association between cellular human immunodeficiency virus DNA level and immunological parameters in patients with undetectable plasma viremia level during highly active antiretroviral therapy.

The association between human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) DNA load and immunologic parameters was investigated in 163 HIV-infected patients with undetectable plasma viremia during highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Patients with HIV DNA below the 25th percentile (133 copies/10(6) peripheral blood mononuclear cells) had higher pre-HAART (P = 0.001) and current (P = 0.