Improved antiretroviral treatment outcome in a rural African setting is associated with cART initiation at higher CD4 cell counts and better general health condition.

Background: Data on combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) in remote rural African regions is increasing.

Methods: We assessed prospectively initial cART in HIV-infected adults treated from 2005 to 2008 at St. Francis Designated District Hospital, Ifakara, Tanzania.

Impact of a national HIV voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) campaign on VCT in a rural hospital in Tanzania.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a national HIV voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) campaign on presentation to HIV care in a rural population in Tanzania.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of data of the VCT and of the National AIDS Control Programme registers of the St. Francis Designated District Hospital at Ifakara for the two 6-month periods before (2007) and after (2008) the National VCT Campaign.

Prevalence of different virulence factors and biofilm production in enteroaggregative Escherichia coli isolates causing diarrhea in children in Ifakara (Tanzania).

This study investigated the prevalence of 19 virulence factors and biofilm production in 86 EAEC isolates causing diarrhea in children less than 5 years of age from Ifakara, Tanzania. Virulence factors were detected by PCR, whereas biofilm production was determined using a microtiter plate assay. No virulence factor, with the exception of the aat gene used to identify EAEC, was detected in 11/86 isolates (12.