Employment Status and HIV Viral Load in Chilean Adult Population: A Propensity Score Analysis.

We set out to investigate the potential impact of unemployment on HIV viral load in individuals living with HIV at the biggest HIV-related healthcare centre in Chile. We analysed a cross-sectional dataset of 803 adults living with HIV on antiretroviral therapy. The main exposure was employment status.

Humanising and optimising HIV health care for refugees and asylum seekers.

Displaced populations living with HIV, including refugees and asylum seekers, face substantial challenges across various regions globally. The intersection of forced migration and HIV presents both shared challenges and region-specific differences. Key issues include little access to health care, pervasive stigma, discrimination, and disruptions in the continuity of HIV care.

Global trends in CD4 count measurement and distribution at first antiretroviral treatment initiation.

Background: While people with HIV (PWH) start antiretroviral treatment (ART) regardless of CD4 count, CD4 measurement remains crucial for detecting advanced HIV disease and evaluating ART programmes. We explored CD4 measurement (proportion of PWH with a CD4 result available) and prevalence of CD4 <200 cells/µL at ART initiation within the International epidemiology Databases to Evaluate AIDS (IeDEA) global collaboration.

Methods: We included PWH at participating ART programmes who first initiated ART at age 15-80 years during 2005-2019.

Unity is strength: creation and future actions for a consortium for HIV cure research in Latin America and the Caribbean 'Lac-Cura'.

The development of effective HIV cure strategies is crucial. However, most research in this area has been concentrated in high-income countries, underscoring the need to expand efforts to regions like Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), which face distinct biomedical, social, political, and economic challenges. Data on LAC's participation in HIV cure research, along with stakeholder perceptions, reveal that the work being done in the region is scarce, fragmented, scattered, and characterized by limited resources and infrastructure.

Vaccine effectiveness in reducing COVID-19-related hospitalization after a risk-age-based mass vaccination program in a Chilean municipality: A comparison of observational study designs.

Background: Case-control studies involving test-negative (TN) and syndrome-negative (SN) controls are reliable for evaluating influenza and rotavirus vaccine effectiveness (VE) during a random vaccination process. However, there is no empirical evidence regarding the impact in real-world mass vaccination campaigns against SARS-CoV-2 using TN and SN controls.

Objective: To compare in the same population the effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination on COVID-19-related hospitalization rates across a cohort design, TN and SN designs.

Clinical outcomes and risk factors for immune recovery and all-cause mortality in Latin Americans living with HIV with virological success: a retrospective cohort study.

Introduction: Immune reconstitution following antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation is crucial to prevent AIDS and non-AIDS-related comorbidities. Patients with suppressed viraemia who fail to restore cellular immunity are exposed to an increased risk of morbidity and mortality during long-term follow-up, although the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. We aim to describe clinical outcomes and factors associated with the worse immune recovery and all-cause mortality in people living with HIV (PLWH) from Latin America following ART initiation.

The impact of earthquakes in Latin America on the continuity of HIV care: A retrospective observational cohort study.

Objectives: As earthquakes occur frequently in Latin America and can cause significant disruptions in HIV care, we sought to analyze patterns of HIV care for adults at Latin American clinical sites experiencing a significant earthquake within the past two decades.

Study Design: Retrospective clinical cohort study.

Methods: Adults receiving HIV care at sites experiencing at least a "moderate intensity" (Modified Mercalli scale) earthquake in the Caribbean, Central and South America network for HIV epidemiology (CCASAnet) contributed data from 2003 to 2017.

Lessons learned from over a decade of data audits in international observational HIV cohorts in Latin America and East Africa.

Introduction: Routine patient care data are increasingly used for biomedical research, but such "secondary use" data have known limitations, including their quality. When leveraging routine care data for observational research, developing audit protocols that can maximize informational return and minimize costs is paramount.

Methods: For more than a decade, the Latin America and East Africa regions of the International epidemiology Databases to Evaluate AIDS (IeDEA) consortium have been auditing the observational data drawn from participating human immunodeficiency virus clinics.

Humoral immunity against SARS-CoV-2 evoked by heterologous vaccination groups using the CoronaVac (Sinovac) and BNT162b2 (Pfizer/BioNTech) vaccines in Chile.

Introduction: Severe acute respiratory syndrome virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused over million deaths worldwide, with more than 61,000 deaths in Chile. The Chilean government has implemented a vaccination program against SARS-CoV-2, with over 17.7 million people receiving a complete vaccination scheme.

Impact of homologous and heterologous boosters in neutralizing antibodies titers against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron in solid-organ transplant recipients.

Introduction: Booster doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines improve seroconversion rates in solid organ transplant recipients (SOTRs) but the impact of homologous and heterologous booster doses in neutralizing antibody (NAb) titers and their ability to interfere with the variant of concern Omicron are not well studied.

Methods: We designed a prospective, open-label, observational clinical cohort study. 45 participants received two doses of BNT162b2 or CoronaVac (21-day or 28-day intervals, respectively) followed by a first and second booster with BNT162b2 (5-month apart each) and we analyzed the neutralizing antibody titers against SARSCoV-2 D614G (B.

Practical management of complexity in older people with HIV: approaching an international consensus.

Globally the community of people with HIV is ageing, and some of these have increasingly complex care needs, with a known excess of non-HIV related comorbidities and related issues including consequent polypharmacy. At the 2022 International AIDS Conference in Montréal, Canada, the "Silver Zone" was created in the Global Village as a safe space for older people with HIV. As part of the Silver Zone activities, a session discussing global models of care for in this group was held.

Characteristics of psychosocial interventions to improve ART adherence in people living with HIV: A systematic review.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to be a significant global public health crisis. The main HIV/AIDS treatment is the antiretroviral therapy (ART), which is highly effective but depends on the patient's adherence to be successful. However, the adherence to antiretroviral therapy remains unsatisfactory across different populations, which raises considerable difficulties at both individual and collective levels.

Enteropathy and gut dysbiosis as obstacles to achieve immune recovery in undetectable people with HIV: a clinical view of evidence, successes, and projections.

Immune performance following antiretroviral therapy initiation varies among patients. Despite achieving viral undetectability, a subgroup of patients fails to restore CD4+ T-cell counts during follow-up, which exposes them to non-AIDS defining comorbidities and increased mortality. Unfortunately, its mechanisms are incompletely understood, and no specific treatment is available.

Barriers to Uptake of Long-Acting Antiretroviral Products for Treatment and Prevention of HIV in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs).

Long-acting injectable antiretroviral therapy (LA ART) has been found to be non-inferior to daily oral ART in phase 3 clinical trials and is poised to soon enter routine clinical care. This treatment modality has the potential to address many barriers to daily oral ART adherence among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and for HIV Pre-Exposure prevention. Data from the Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) showed high rates of satisfaction, acceptability, tolerability and preference for the LA regimen, compared with the daily oral treatment.

Human monkeypox virus infection in women and non-binary individuals during the 2022 outbreaks: a global case series.

Background: Between May and November, 2022, global outbreaks of human monkeypox virus infection have been reported in more than 78 000 people worldwide, predominantly in men who have sex with men. We describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of monkeypox virus infection in cisgender (cis) and transgender (trans) women and non-binary individuals assigned female sex at birth to improve identification and understanding of risk factors.

Methods: International collaborators in geographical locations with high numbers of diagnoses of monkeypox virus infection were approached and invited to contribute data on women and non-binary individuals with confirmed monkeypox virus infection.

Internet-based peer support interventions for people living with HIV: A scoping review.

Peer support interventions for people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) are effective, but their associated time and material costs for the recipient and the health system make them reachable for only a small proportion of PLWHA. Internet-based interventions are an effective alternative for delivering psychosocial interventions for PLWHA as they are more accessible. Currently, no reviews are focusing on internet-based interventions with peer support components.

Late-onset opportunistic infections while receiving anti-retroviral therapy in Latin America: burden and risk factors.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe the incidence, clinical characteristics, and risk factors of late-onset opportunistic infections (LOI) in people who live with HIV (PWLHA) within the Caribbean, Central and South America network for HIV epidemiology.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study including treatment-naive PWLHA enrolled at seven sites (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Mexico, and two sites in Honduras). Follow-up began at 6 months after treatment started.

Clinical effects of durability of immunosuppression in virologically suppressed ART-initiating persons with HIV in Latin America. A retrospective cohort study.

Background: Clinical outcomes are rarely studied in virologically suppressed people living with HIV (PWH) and incomplete CD4 recovery. To explore whether time living with severe immunosuppression predict clinical outcomes better than baseline or time updated CD4, we estimated the association between cumulative percentage of time with CD4 <200 cells/μL during viral suppression (VS) (%t), and mortality and comorbidities during 2000-2019.

Methods: In a retrospective cohort analysis, we followed PWH initiating ART in Latin America from first VS (HIV-RNA<200 copies/μL) to death, virological failure or loss to follow-up.

[Virological evolution of patients with HIV infection that start antiretroviral therapy with a very high baseline viral load].

Background: The degree of viral suppression in HIV patients who start antiretroviral therapy (ART) with very high viral loads (CV) is unknown.

Aim: To know the percentage of viral suppression in HIV patients who start ART with CV ≥ 500,000 copies/mL at 96 weeks.

Method: Retrospective study.

Tuberculosis treatment intermittency in the continuation phase and mortality in HIV-positive persons receiving antiretroviral therapy.

Background: Some tuberculosis (TB) treatment guidelines recommend daily TB treatment in both the intensive and continuation phases of treatment in HIV-positive persons to decrease the risk of relapse and acquired drug resistance. However, guidelines vary across countries, and treatment is given 7, 5, 3, or 2 days/week. The effect of TB treatment intermittency in the continuation phase on mortality in HIV-positive persons on antiretroviral therapy (ART), is not well-described.