[Hypertriglyceridemia during active intercurrent infections in HIV-infected patients].

Background: Many reports have confirmed that hypertriglyceridemia (HTG) is more common in HIV-infected patients than in the general population, but the relationship between HTG and clinical conditions have not been well established. This work analyzes the relationships between CD4+ cell count, HTG and the presence of active intercurrent infections in patients hospitalized for HIV infection.

Methods: Blood specimens from hospitalized HIV-infected patients and healthy controls without HIV infection were analyzed.

[Relative risk of hepatitis C virus transmission in polytransfused patients].

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been shown to be responsible for a significant proportion of hepatitis cases among patients undergoing frequent blood transfusions. The prevalence in blood serum of anti-HCV antibodies was studied in 48 patients who had undergone dialysis and multiple blood transfusions. In 42 of these patients the average number of transfusions during their treatment was 11.

Biological false positive test for syphilis in lepromatous leprosy patients with concomitant hepatitis B virus infection.

Within the wide range of immunological abnormalities occurring in lepromatous leprosy (LL), antiphospholipid antibodies unrelated to treponemal infection, the so-called biological false positive test for syphilis (BFP), have long been recognized. Considering that BFP may also be encountered in different clinical situations, the fact that whether BFP in LL occurs solely or is associated with other concomitant infections or serological abnormalities was investigated. For this purpose, two groups of LL patients with similar clinical features and no evidence of treponemal infection were studied, one group with BFP (n = 21) and the other without BFP (n = 13).