Profile of Persons Recently Infected with HIV-1 in Belgium: New Insights to Tailor Prevention Efforts.

Despite wide availability of prevention and treatment services, including the ongoing roll-out of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), the HIV epidemic is not under control in Belgium. Hence, there is a recognized need to improve case finding and early diagnosis to curb the further spread of HIV more effectively. The objective of the present study was to improve insight into the profiles of persons recently infected with HIV-1 and on their prevention trajectory.

Prevalence and Evolution of Transmitted Human Immunodeficiency Virus Drug Resistance in Belgium Between 2013 and 2019.

Background: To assess the prevalence and evolution of transmitted drug resistance (TDR) in Belgium, a total of 3708 baseline human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 sequences from patients diagnosed between 2013 and 2019 were analyzed.

Methods: Protease and reverse-transcriptase HIV-1 sequences were collected from the 7 national Aids Reference Laboratories. Subtype determination and drug resistance scoring were performed using the Stanford HIV Drug Resistance Database.

Moderate forms of COVID-19 among healthcare workers in a Belgian hospital and their immune response.

Introduction: Healthcare professionals have been treating patients with COVID-19 since the pandemic started in early 2020 while also trying to limit disease spread among their coworkers and communities. This study aimed to identify and follow potentially infected healthcare workers in one hospital in order to develop an epidemiological baseline for COVID-19 infection and spread rates in this population.

Materials And Methods: This prospective study was conducted between 1 April and 30 June 2020 at a single Belgian hospital.

Earlier Initiation of Antiretroviral Treatment Coincides With an Initial Control of the HIV-1 Sub-Subtype F1 Outbreak Among Men-Having-Sex-With-Men in Flanders, Belgium.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) non-B subtype infections occurred in Belgium since the 1980s, mainly amongst migrants and heterosexuals, whereas subtype B predominated in men-having-sex-with-men (MSM). In the last decade, the diagnosis of F1 sub-subtype in particular has increased substantially, which prompted us to perform a detailed reconstruction of its epidemiological history. To this purpose, the Belgian AIDS Reference Laboratories collected HIV-1 sequences from all sub-subtype F1-infected patients for whom genotypic drug resistance testing was requested as part of routine clinical follow-up.

Distribution of HCV genotypes in Belgium from 2008 to 2015.

Background: The knowledge of circulating HCV genotypes and subtypes in a country is crucial to guide antiviral therapy and to understand local epidemiology. Studies investigating circulating HCV genotypes and their trends have been conducted in Belgium. However they are outdated, lack nationwide representativeness or were not conducted in the general population.

Phylogenetic analysis of the Belgian HIV-1 epidemic reveals that local transmission is almost exclusively driven by men having sex with men despite presence of large African migrant communities.

To improve insight in the drivers of local HIV-1 transmission in Belgium, phylogenetic, demographic, epidemiological and laboratory data from patients newly diagnosed between 2013 and 2015 were combined and analyzed. Characteristics of clustered patients, paired patients and patients on isolated branches in the phylogenetic tree were compared. The results revealed an overall high level of clustering despite the short time frame of sampling, with 47.

Screening for Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae Infections in Men Who Have Sex With Men: Diagnostic Accuracy of Nucleic Acid Amplification Test on Pooled Urine, Anorectal, and Pharyngeal Specimens.

Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis screening was performed in a cohort of 100 men who have sex with men. A nucleic acid amplification test on a pooled sample of first-pass urine, pharyngeal, and anorectal specimens was compared with results on nonpooled samples. Despite an excellent agreement (Cohen κ, 0.

HIV-1 low-level viraemia assessed with 3 commercial real-time PCR assays show high variability.

Background: Current real-time PCR-based HIV-1 viral load (VL) assays allow the detection of residual viraemia in antiretroviral-treated patients. The clinical outcome of HIV1 patients experiencing low-level replication (<50 cop/mL) in comparison with fully suppressed patients is currently debated. We analysed variability of 3 VL assays <50 cop/mL, and evaluated the reproducibility of viral blips <100 cop/mL.

Correction of underquantification of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 load with the second version of the Roche Cobas AmpliPrep/Cobas TaqMan assay.

Initial evaluations of the Cobas AmpliPrep/Cobas TaqMan human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) test (CAP/CTM) demonstrated good performance but, afterwards, reports about underquantification were published. We investigated whether the problem was solved with a second version of this assay, the Cobas AmpliPrep/Cobas TaqMan HIV-1 test, version 2.0 (CAP/CTM v2.

Development and evaluation of single sperm washing for risk reduction in artificial reproductive technology (ART) for extreme oligospermic HIV positive patients.

The serodiscordant couples, where the male is HIV-positive, are treated in fertility clinics, using the sperm washing technique by gradient centrifugation. This protocol cannot be carried out in oligo-azoospermic patients, where spermatozoa retrieval from the epididymis and testis must be performed. We developed a single sperm washing technique, where the spermatozoa, after the retrieval, are washed with the aid of a micromanipulator, to obtain virus decontamination and then used for the intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).

Development and evaluation of a qualitative reverse-transcriptase nested polymerase chain reaction protocol for same-day viral validation of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 ribonucleic acid in processed semen.

Objective: To develop a method for same-day validation of processed semen in the setting of assisted reproductive techniques (ART) with patients who are seropositive for human immunodeficiency virus, type 1 (HIV-1).

Design: Laboratory experiments.

Setting: University hospital.

Cultured Kaposi's sarcoma tumor cells exhibit a chemokine receptor repertoire that does not allow infection by HIV-1.

Background: HIV-1 is known to play a critical role in the pathogenesis of AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). However, it remains controversial whether KS cells are target cells for HIV infection. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of chemokine receptors in KS cell cultures and to determine whether these cells can be infected by HIV-1.

Prevalence of genotypic resistance among antiretroviral drug-naive HIV-1-infected patients in Belgium.

Objectives: To estimate the prevalence and the evolution over time (1995-1998) of genotypic resistance to antiviral drugs in antiretroviral drug-naive HIV-1-infected patients in Belgium.

Design: Belgian Aids Reference Laboratories provided retrospective samples and clinical data from antiretroviral drug-naive HIV-1-infected patients who visited the hospital for the first time in 1995 (n=45), 1997 (n=75) and 1998 (n=111). Genotypic resistance to the three available classes of drugs was monitored using the Line Probe Assay (Innogenetics, Gent, Belgium).

Blinded, multicenter quality control study for the quantification of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 RNA in plasma by the Belgian AIDS reference laboratories.

Objective: In order to evaluate the interlaboratory variation of HIV-1 RNA measurements in plasma, the Belgian AIDS reference laboratories organized a blinded multicenter quality control study.

Methods: Atest panel of coded spiked HIV-1 plasma samples reflecting the dynamic range of the assay was composed and distributed. The HIV-1 RNA concentration of these samples was determined by the eight Belgian AIDS reference laboratories by means of the Amplicor HIV-1 Monitor version 1.

Standardisation of primers and an algorithm for HIV-1 diagnostic PCR evaluated in patients harbouring strains of diverse geographical origin. The Belgian AIDS Reference Laboratories.

Eight Belgian AIDS Reference Laboratories established a multicentre quality control to evaluate the performance of their diagnostic human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) DNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A set of Belgian and African HIV-1 seropositive and seronegative patient samples, collected in Belgium, and the British Medical Research Council (MRC) HIV-1 PCR reference reagent kit, containing plasmid HIV-1 DNA at several dilutions in human carrier DNA with appropriate negative controls, were tested by the laboratories. No false positive results were reported.