Bilateral pleural effusion in a HIV negative patient - TB or not TB?

Pleural tuberculosis is an infrequent cause of respiratory illness in Europe and usually presents unilaterally. We present the case of a young, immunocompetent sailor from the Phillippines, who presented with bilateral pleural fluid caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in the Netherlands. In addition challenges in the diagnostic process are discussed.

Dispersion of the HIV-1 Epidemic in Men Who Have Sex with Men in the Netherlands: A Combined Mathematical Model and Phylogenetic Analysis.

Background: The HIV-1 subtype B epidemic amongst men who have sex with men (MSM) is resurgent in many countries despite the widespread use of effective combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). In this combined mathematical and phylogenetic study of observational data, we aimed to find out the extent to which the resurgent epidemic is the result of newly introduced strains or of growth of already circulating strains.

Methods And Findings: As of November 2011, the ATHENA observational HIV cohort of all patients in care in the Netherlands since 1996 included HIV-1 subtype B polymerase sequences from 5,852 patients.

Loss to follow-up and mortality rates in HIV-1-infected patients in Curaçao before and after the start of combination antiretroviral therapy.

We estimated the impact of loss to follow-up (LTFU) on the mortality rate among HIV-1-infected patients in Curaçao. A total of 214 therapy-naive HIV-1-infected patients aged 15 years or older upon entering into HIV care between January 2005 and July 2009 were included. Persons who discontinued follow-up for more than 365 days were defined as LTFU and traced with the aim of registering their vital status.

Developing quality indicators for the care of HIV-infected pregnant women in the Dutch Caribbean.

Background: Effective interventions to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) exist and when properly applied reduce the risk of vertical HIV transmission. As part of optimizing PMTCT in the Dutch Caribbean we developed a set of valid and applicable indicators in order to assess the quality of care in HIV-infected (pregnant) women and their newborns.

Methods: A multidisciplinary expert panel of 19 experts reviewed and prioritized recommendations extracted from locally used international PMTCT guidelines according to a 3-step-modified-Delphi procedure.

The efficacy of combination antiretroviral therapy in HIV type 1-infected patients treated in Curaçao compared with Antillean, Surinam, and Dutch HIV type 1-infected patients treated in The Netherlands.

We compared the efficacy of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) of Antillean HIV-1-infected patients treated on the Caribbean island of Curaçao (CUR-AN) with Antillean (NL-AN), Surinam (NL-SUR), and Dutch (NL-NL) patients treated in The Netherlands. In total 2118 therapy-naive patients who started cART between January 2005 and August 2008 were included in the comparison. The CUR-AN patients initiated cART at a median CD4 cell count of 141 cells/mm(3) and 63% had counts below 200 cells/mm(3).