Seroprevalence of hepatitis E virus infection in rural and urban populations, Tunisia.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is one of the leading agents of acute hepatitis. This study investigated the prevalence and risk factors of HEV infection in the Tunisian adult general population, either in blood donors (n=687) or in patients hospitalized for acute hepatitis (n=202). The mode of transmission differed between these two populations: contact with animals and living in a rural habitat were the main risk factors for being in contact with HEV in asymptomatic blood donors, while HEV was contracted through contaminated water in symptomatic cases.

Follow-up and management of patients exposed to a flawed automated endoscope washer-disinfector in a digestive diseases unit.

The possible transmission of pathogens to 236 persons exposed to an endoscope processed in a flawed automated endoscope washer-disinfector in a gastrointestinal endoscopy unit was investigated. During 6 months, 197 patients (83.5%) were followed up, and no cases of acute human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis C virus, or hepatitis B virus infection were observed.

Virological and pharmacological parameters predicting the response to lopinavir-ritonavir in heavily protease inhibitor-experienced patients.

The genotypic inhibitory quotient (GIQ) has been proposed as a way to integrate drug exposure and genotypic resistance to protease inhibitors and can be useful to enhance the predictivity of virologic response for boosted protease inhibitors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictivity of the GIQ in 116 protease inhibitor-experienced patients treated with lopinavir-ritonavir. The overall decrease in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA from baseline to month 6 was a median of -1.

Effects of co-infection with hepatitis C virus and GB virus C on CD4 cell count and HIV-RNA level among HIV-infected patients treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy.

The effects of co-infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and GB virus C (GBV-C) on CD4 cell counts and plasma HIV-RNA levels has been investigated in HIV-infected patients treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Patients co-infected with HCV and GBV-C experienced a CD4 cell increase during 4 years of HAART, whereas the increase stopped after 2 years in the other groups.