Prevalence of HIV type 1 infection, associated clinical features and mortality among hospitalized children in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of HIV-1 infection, the clinical spectrum of HIV-1-associated conditions and HIV-1-associated mortality among children hospitalized in the medical paediatric wards at Muhimbili Medical Centre (MMC), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. All children admitted to the medical paediatric wards of MMC between August 1995 and January 1996 were eligible for the study. Testing for HIV antibodies was done using 2 consecutive enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs).

Late postnatal transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection from mothers to infants in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Objective: To study late postnatal transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in a cohort of children born to HIV-1-seropositive mothers who delivered at Muhimbili Medical Centre in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Materials And Methods: Since 1991 a prospective cohort study of mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1 has been conducted at Muhimbili Medical Centre in Dar es Salaam. HIV-1-seropositive mothers and age-matched seronegative controls were recruited into the cohort at delivery together with their newborns.

Performance of a modified HIV-1 p24 antigen assay for early diagnosis of HIV-1 infection in infants and prediction of mother-to-infant transmission of HIV-1 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The aim of this study was to determine the utility of an amplified human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) p24 antigen (ag) assay using heated plasma or serum samples for the early diagnosis of HIV-1 infection in infants and for the prediction of the risk of mother-to-infant (MTI) transmission of HIV-1 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The study included 125 samples from 76 infants positive for HIV-1 DNA by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), 106 samples from 101 PCR-negative infants and 116 and 160 samples from seropositive and seronegative mothers, respectively. Samples were boiled to dissociate immune complexes and tested for HIV-1 p24 ag using a p24 ag amplification assay.

Early diagnosis of HIV-1 infection in infants in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Objectives: To evaluate two simple methods, an immune complex dissociation (ICD) p24 antigen assay and an HIV-1-specific IgA antibody assay, for the early demonstration of HIV-1 infection in infants, using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as the reference method.

Design And Setting: Group A: 143 HIV-1-seropositive and 134 -seronegative mothers and their infants were recruited at delivery at the main hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Group B: 26 HIV-PCR-positive hospitalized children in Dar es Salaam, 3-15 months old and suspected of having an HIV-related illness.

Predictive markers for mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The aim of this study was to determine immunological factors associated with increased risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1 that could be used as predictive markers in Tanzanian women. One hundred and thirty-eight HIV-1-seropositive and 117-seronegative mothers and their newborns were recruited at delivery and followed up at Muhimbili Medical Centre in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Blood specimens from the mothers were analyzed for HIV-1 p24 antigen, beta 2-microglobulin (B2M), T-lymphocyte subsets, and presence of viral DNA in blood mononuclear cells by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).