Impact of COVID-19 Public Health Measures on Antiretroviral Therapy Use Among Ugandans Living with HIV in Sero-Different Couples.

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) use and HIV suppression among people living with HIV (PLHIV) are critical for HIV control and prevention. Extreme restrictions on movement early during the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda may have impeded the ability to initiate and sustain access to and use of ART. From our stepped-wedge cluster-randomized trial of an integrated PrEP and ART intervention for HIV-serodifferent couples at 12 ART clinics in Uganda, we identified participants who enrolled and had a 6-month post-ART initiation viral load measured before the beginning of the first COVID-19 lockdown (Period 1), participants whose enrollment and 6-month viral load measurement straddled pre-COVID and COVID lockdown times (Period 2), and participants whose enrollment and 6-month viral load were quantified entirely during COVID-19 (Period 3).

Diarrhea Case Surveillance in the Enterics for Global Health Surveillance Study: Epidemiologic Methods.

Background: is a leading cause of acute watery diarrhea, dysentery, and diarrhea-attributed linear growth faltering, a precursor to stunting and lifelong morbidity. Several promising vaccines are in development and field efficacy trials will require a consortium of potential vaccine trial sites with up-to-date diarrhea incidence data.

Methods: The Enterics for Global Health (EFGH) surveillance study will employ facility-based enrollment of diarrhea cases aged 6-35 months with 3 months of follow-up to establish incidence rates and document clinical, anthropometric, and financial consequences of diarrhea at 7 country sites (Mali, Kenya, The Gambia, Malawi, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Peru).

Quantifying the Cost of Diarrhea in the Enterics for Global Health (EFGH) Surveillance Study.

Background: Comparative costs of public health interventions provide valuable data for decision making. However, the availability of comprehensive and context-specific costs is often limited. The Enterics for Global Health (EFGH) surveillance study-a facility-based diarrhea surveillance study across 7 countries-aims to generate evidence on health system and household costs associated with medically attended diarrhea in children.

Data Management in Multicountry Consortium Studies: The Enterics For Global Health (EFGH) Surveillance Study Example.

Background: Rigorous data management systems and planning are essential to successful research projects, especially for large, multicountry consortium studies involving partnerships across multiple institutions. Here we describe the development and implementation of data management systems and procedures for the Enterics For Global Health (EFGH) surveillance study-a 7-country diarrhea surveillance study that will conduct facility-based surveillance concurrent with population-based enumeration and a health care utilization survey to estimate the incidence of -associated diarrhea in children 6 to 35 months old.

Methods: The goals of EFGH data management are to utilize the knowledge and experience of consortium members to collect high-quality data and ensure equity in access and decision-making.

Microbiological Methods Used in the Enterics for Global Health Surveillance Study.

Background: is a major cause of diarrhea in young children worldwide. Multiple vaccines targeting are in development, and phase 3 clinical trials are imminent to determine efficacy against shigellosis.

Methods: The Enterics for Global Health (EFGH) surveillance study is designed to determine the incidence of medically attended shigellosis in 6- to 35-month-old children in 7 resource-limited settings.

PrEP uptake and HIV viral suppression when PrEP is integrated into Ugandan ART clinics for HIV-negative members of HIV-serodifferent couples: A stepped wedge cluster randomized trial.

Background: Global scale-up of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) includes services to HIV-negative people in partnerships with people living with HIV (serodifferent couples). Data are needed on HIV outcomes, including uptake and adherence to PrEP and antiretroviral treatment (ART), to describe the impact of integrating PrEP into an existing HIV program.

Methods: Using a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial design, we launched PrEP delivery for HIV-negative members of serodifferent couples in Uganda by integrating PrEP into existing ART programs for people living with HIV.

Minimally Invasive Postmortem Intestinal Tissue Sampling in Malnourished and Acutely Ill Children Is Feasible and Informative.

Background: Intestinal disorders such as environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) are prevalent in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and important contributors to childhood undernutrition and mortality. Autopsies are rarely performed in LMICs but minimally invasive tissue sampling is increasingly deployed as a more feasible and acceptable procedure, although protocols have been devoid of intestinal sampling to date. We sought to determine (1) the feasibility of postmortem intestinal sampling, (2) whether autolysis precludes enteric biopsies' utility, and (3) histopathologic features among children who died during hospitalization with acute illness or undernutrition.

Integrating PrEP delivery in public health family planning clinics: a protocol for a pragmatic stepped wedge cluster randomized trial in Kenya.

Background: Adolescent girls and young women account for a disproportionate fraction of new HIV infections in Africa and are a priority population for HIV prevention, including provision of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Anchoring PrEP delivery to care settings like family planning (FP) services that women already access routinely may offer an efficient platform to reach HIV at-risk women. However, context-specific implementation science evaluation is needed.

Simplifying TREAtment and Monitoring for HIV (STREAM HIV): protocol for a randomised controlled trial of point-of-care urine tenofovir and viral load testing to improve HIV outcomes.

Introduction: Substantial improvements in viral suppression among people living with HIV (PLHIV) are needed to end the HIV epidemic, requiring extensive scale-up of low-cost HIV monitoring services. Point-of-care (POC) tests for monitoring antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence and viral load (VL) may be efficient and effective tools for real-time clinical decision making. We aim to evaluate the effects of a combined intervention of POC ART adherence and VL testing compared with standard-of-care on ART adherence, viral suppression and retention at 6 and 18 months post-ART initiation among PLHIV.

Functional interactions between herpes simplex virus pUL51, pUL7 and gE reveal cell-specific mechanisms for epithelial cell-to-cell spread.

Herpes simplex virus spread between epithelial cells is mediated by virus tegument and envelope protein complexes including gE/gI and pUL51/pUL7. pUL51 interacts with both pUL7 and gE/gI in infected cells. We show that amino acids 30-90 of pUL51 mediate interaction with pUL7.