Phenotypic characterization of NK cells in 5-year-old children exposed to maternal HIV and antiretroviral therapy in early-life.

Background: HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) children are at increased risk of morbidity during the first years of life. Although the immune responses of HEU infants in early-life are relatively well described, studies of natural killer (NK) cells in older HEU children are lacking. NK cell subsets were analysed in HEU children and compared to those in HIV unexposed uninfected (HUU) children aged ~ five years.

Antenatal hepatitis B virus sero-prevalence, risk factors, pregnancy outcomes and vertical transmission rate within 24 months after birth in a high HIV prevalence setting.

Background: Despite the availability of an effective vaccine, chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections remain a major cause of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. HBV burden in pregnancy, risk factors and the timing of mother to child transmission remain poorly described especially during this era of lifelong use of Tenofovir/Lamivudine/Efavirenz as firstline for HIV treatment. We aimed to determine the burden of HBV in pregnancy and infants receiving their first dose of HBV vaccine 6 weeks after birth in a high HIV-prevalence setting.

Altered methionine-sulfone levels are associated with impaired growth in HIV-exposed-uninfected children.

Objective: To determine immune-metabolic dysregulation in children born to women living with HIV.

Methods: Longitudinal immune-metabolomic analyses of plasma of 32 pregnant women with HIV (WHIV) and 12 uninfected women and their children up to 1.5 years of age were performed.

Challenges in the diagnosis of asthma in children, what are the solutions? A scoping review of 3 countries in sub Saharan Africa.

Background: Asthma is the commonest chronic respiratory tract disease in children. In low-income countries, challenges exist in asthma diagnosis. In surveys done in children, the prevalence of 'asthma' defined by symptoms is high compared to 'doctor diagnosed asthma'.

Role of antenatal plasma cytomegalovirus DNA levels on pregnancy outcome and HIV-1 vertical transmission among mothers in the University of Zimbabwe birth cohort study (UZBCS).

Introduction: Despite being a leading infectious cause of childhood disability globally, testing for cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections in pregnancy is generally not done in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA), where breastfeeding practice is almost universal. Whilst CMV and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are both endemic in SSA, the relationship between antenatal plasma CMV-DNA, HIV-1-RNA levels and HIV-1-mother to child transmission (MTCT) including pregnancy outcomes remains poorly described.

Methods: Pregnant women at least 20 weeks' gestational age at enrolment were recruited from relatively poor high-density suburbs in Harare, Zimbabwe.