Publications by authors named "Hung Le Mạnh"

We studied a community cluster of 25 mpox cases in Vietnam caused by emerging monkeypox virus sublineage C.1 and imported into Vietnam through 2 independent events; 1 major cluster carried a novel APOBEC3-like mutation. Three patients died; all had advanced HIV co-infection.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Traditional classification of animals, particularly birds, often relies on physical traits like plumage color, but this can lead to misclassification.
  • Recent studies using bioacoustic and genomic data have challenged these traditional methods, revealing errors in genus boundaries within the flycatcher subfamily Niltavinae.
  • The research demonstrates that song characteristics are crucial for accurate classification, prompting a reorganization of genera and a reconsideration of biogeographical limits based on integrative datasets rather than solely on morphology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Healthcare utilization is typically adversely affected when the treatment is expensive and requires multiple visits. We examined the determinants of healthcare-seeking for Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection which is asymptomatic, chronic, and requires costly treatment in an urban tertiary care referral hospital in Vietnam.

Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of hospital data for patients attending the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam between 2017 and 2020 specifically for HCV infection treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nucleic acid testing to confirm sustained virological response (SVR) after HCV therapy is technical, often expensive, and frequently unavailable where disease prevalence is highest. Alternative surrogate biomarkers merit evaluation. In a short-treatment trial in Vietnam (SEARCH-1; n = 52) we analysed how changes in alanine transaminase (ΔALT) and aspartate transaminase (ΔAST), from end of treatment (EOT) to EOT + 12 weeks, related to SVR, defined as HCV RNA < lower limit of quantification 12 weeks after EOT.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Researchers studied 1,303 SARS-CoV-2 whole-genome sequences from Vietnam to identify the major variants responsible for the COVID-19 outbreak in 2021.
  • The Alpha and Delta variants, specifically the AY.57 lineage of Delta, were linked to over 1.7 million infections and more than 32,000 deaths.
  • Nonpharmaceutical interventions significantly influenced the spread of the virus during this outbreak.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Mpox was diagnosed in 2 women returning to Vietnam from the United Arab Emirates. The monkeypox viruses belonged to an emerging sublineage, A.2.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: World Health Organization has called for research into predictive factors for selecting persons who could be successfully treated with shorter durations of direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy for hepatitis C. We evaluated early virological response as a means of shortening treatment and explored host, viral and pharmacokinetic contributors to treatment outcome.

Methods: Duration of sofosbuvir and daclatasvir (SOF/DCV) was determined according to day 2 (D2) virologic response for HCV genotype (gt) 1- or 6-infected adults in Vietnam with mild liver disease.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We studied the development and persistence of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 ancestral strain, and Delta and Omicron (BA.1 and BA.2) variants in Vietnamese healthcare workers (HCWs) up to 15 weeks after booster vaccination.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Direct acting antiviral treatment to cure hepatitis C virus (HCV) is becoming more accessible yet the experiences of those accessing care and treatment and the contexts under which care seeking takes place are largely unknown in low- and middle-income countries. These experiences are important for insight into the challenges people encounter and the support/structures they utilize. The study objective was to explore the experiences of care seeking and treatment for participants enrolled in a clinical trial in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We studied the immunogenicity of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in health-care workers of a major infectious diseases hospital in Vietnam. We measured neutralizing antibodies before and 14 days after each dose, and at day 28 and month 3 after dose 1. A total of 554 workers (136 men and 418 women; age range, 22-71 years; median age, 36 years) participated with the study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Data on breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant infections in vaccinated individuals are limited.

Methods: We studied breakthrough infections among Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccinated healthcare workers in an infectious diseases hospital in Vietnam. We collected demographic and clinical data alongside serial PCR testing, measurement of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, and viral whole-genome sequencing.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: People living with advanced HIV disease are at high risk of morbidity and mortality. We assessed the prevalence of cryptococcal antigenemia (CrAg) and clinical outcomes among patients newly presenting with CD4 ≤100 cells/μL in Vietnam.

Setting: Twenty-two public HIV clinics in Vietnam.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Genotype 6 is the most genetically diverse lineage of hepatitis C virus, and it predominates in Vietnam. It can be treated with sofosbuvir with daclatasvir (SOF/DCV), the least expensive treatment combination globally. In regional guidelines, longer treatment durations of SOF/DCV (24 weeks) are recommended for cirrhotic individuals, compared with other pangenotypic regimens (12 weeks), based on sparse data.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Morphological traits have served generations of biologists as a taxonomic indicator, and have been the main basis for defining and classifying species diversity for centuries. A quantitative integration of behavioural characters, such as vocalizations, in studies on biotic differentiation has arisen more recently, and the relative importance of these different traits in the diversification process remains poorly understood. To provide a framework within which to interpret the evolutionary interplay between morphological and behavioural traits, we generated a draft genome of a cryptic Southeast Asian songbird, the limestone wren-babbler Napothera crispifrons.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

: COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and causes substantial morbidity and mortality. There is currently no vaccine to prevent COVID-19 or therapeutic agent to treat COVID-19. This clinical trial is designed to evaluate chloroquine as a potential therapeutic for the treatment of hospitalised people with COVID-19.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We report a superspreading event of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection initiated at a bar in Vietnam with evidence of symptomatic and asymptomatic transmission, based on ministry of health reports, patient interviews, and whole-genome sequence analysis. Crowds in enclosed indoor settings with poor ventilation may be considered at high risk for transmission.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Injectable interferon-based therapies have been used to treat hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection since 1991. International guidelines have now moved away from interferon-based therapy towards direct-acting antiviral (DAA) tablet regimens, because of their superior efficacy, excellent side-effect profiles, and ease of administration. Initially DAA drugs were prohibitively expensive for most healthcare systems.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Little is known about the natural history of asymptomatic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection.

Methods: We conducted a prospective study at a quarantine center for coronavirus disease 2019 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. We enrolled quarantined people with reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, collecting clinical data, travel and contact history, and saliva at enrollment and daily nasopharyngeal/throat swabs (NTSs) for RT-PCR testing.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background & Aims: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has high genetic diversity with six major genotypes (GT) GT1-6 and global distribution. HCV GT5 and 6 are rare with < 10 million people infected worldwide. Data on direct-acting antiviral use in these rare HCV genotypes are limited.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The highest burden of disease from hepatitis C virus (HCV) is found in Southeast Asia, but our understanding of the epidemiology of infection in many heavily burdened countries is still limited. In particular, there is relatively little data on acute HCV infection, the outcome of which can be influenced by both viral and host genetics which differ within the region. We studied HCV genotype and IL28B gene polymorphism in a cohort of acute HCV-infected patients in Southern Vietnam alongside two other cohorts of chronic HCV-infected patients to better understand the epidemiology of HCV infection locally and inform the development of programs for therapy with the increasing availability of directly acting antiviral therapy (DAAs).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Treatment with combined sofosbuvir and velpatasvir has resulted in high sustained virological response rates in patients chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) with genotypes 1-6 in clinical trials and real-world settings, but its efficacy and safety has not been assessed in Asia, a region with diverse HCV genotypes.

Methods: In this single-arm, open-label, phase 3 trial, we recruited patients from 38 sites across China, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaysia, who were chronically infected with HCV genotypes 1-6, and were HCV treatment-naive or treatment-experienced, either without cirrhosis or with compensated cirrhosis. Patients self-administered a combined sofosbuvir (400 mg) and velpatasvir (100 mg) tablet once daily for 12 weeks.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Organisms must cope with altered environmental conditions such as high concentrations of heavy metals. Stress response to heavy metals is mediated by the metal-responsive transcription factor 1 (MTF-1), which is conserved from Drosophila to humans. MTF-1 binds to metal response elements (MREs) and changes the expression of target genes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Niche evolution underpins the generation and maintenance of biological diversity, but niche conservatism, in which niches remain little changed over time in closely related taxa, and the role of ecology in niche evolution are continually debated. To test whether climate niches are conserved in two closely related passerines in East Asia - the vinous-throated (Paradoxornis webbianus) and ashy-throated (P. alphonsianus) parrotbills - we established their potential allopatric and sympatric regions using ecological niche models and compared differences in their climate niches using niche overlap indices in background tests and multivariate statistical analyses.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF