The Challenge of Adherence to a Complex Antiretroviral Therapy Regimen in an Individual With Multidrug-Resistant HIV.

Limited therapeutic options are available for patients with multidrug-resistant HIV. This report describes a 38-year-old female who was perinatally infected with HIV-1 and treated with 14 different antiretroviral regimens over 27 years, gradually leading to 4-class drug resistance. Despite various attempts to obtain sustained viral suppression, including the off-label administration of intravenous foscarnet and enfuvirtide, and thorough follow-up with 16 viral genotyping/phenotyping from 1999 to 2021, viral control was not maintained.

Nationwide quality assurance of high-throughput diagnostic molecular testing during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: role of the Belgian National Reference Centre.

Since the onset of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Belgium, UZ/KU Leuven has played a crucial role as the National Reference Centre (NRC) for respiratory pathogens, to be the first Belgian laboratory to develop and implement laboratory developed diagnostic assays for SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) and later to assess the quality of commercial kits. To meet the growing demand for decentralised testing, both clinical laboratories and government-supported high-throughput platforms were gradually deployed across Belgium. Consequently, the role of the NRC transitioned from a specialised testing laboratory to strengthening capacity and coordinating quality assurance.

Phylogenetic Analysis of Hepatitis C Virus Infections in a Large Belgian Cohort Using Next-Generation Sequencing of Full-Length Genomes.

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) epidemic in Western countries is primarily perpetuated by the sub-populations of men who have sex with men (MSM) and people who inject drugs (PWID). Understanding the dynamics of transmission in these communities is crucial for removing the remaining hurdles towards HCV elimination. We sequenced 269 annotated HCV plasma samples using probe enrichment and next-generation sequencing, obtaining 224 open reading frames of HCV (OR497849-OR498072).

Full-genome next-generation sequencing of hepatitis C virus to assess the accuracy of genotyping by the commercial assay LiPA and the prevalence of resistance-associated substitutions in a Belgian cohort.

Background: Although most currently used regimens for Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections can be initiated without prior knowledge of genotype and subtype, genotyping is still useful to identify patients who might benefit from a personalized treatment due to resistance to direct-acting antivirals (DAA).

Objectives: To assess the utility of full-genome next-generation sequencing (FG-NGS) for HCV genotyping.

Study Design: 138 HCV plasma samples previously genotyped by VERSANT HCV Genotype Assay (LiPA) were subjected to FG-NGS and phylogenetically genotyped Genome Detective.

Prevalence and Evolution of Transmitted Human Immunodeficiency Virus Drug Resistance in Belgium Between 2013 and 2019.

Background: To assess the prevalence and evolution of transmitted drug resistance (TDR) in Belgium, a total of 3708 baseline human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 sequences from patients diagnosed between 2013 and 2019 were analyzed.

Methods: Protease and reverse-transcriptase HIV-1 sequences were collected from the 7 national Aids Reference Laboratories. Subtype determination and drug resistance scoring were performed using the Stanford HIV Drug Resistance Database.