Publications by authors named "Laura Sauve"

La syphilis congénitale peut provoquer un arrêt de grossesse et une morbidité importante chez les nouveau-nés. L'épidémie actuelle de syphilis congénitale au Canada (particulièrement dans l'Ouest canadien) est une urgence sanitaire évitable. Les taux font foi d'un manque de contrôle de la syphilis dans la communauté et d'un manque de ressources de santé publique pour éviter une propagation qui s'est amorcée avant la pandémie de COVID-19.

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Congenital syphilis can result in pregnancy loss and substantial morbidity in newborns. The current epidemic of congenital syphilis in Canada (especially Western Canada) is a preventable public health emergency. Rates indicate a lack of control of syphilis within the community and insufficient public health resources to prevent spread that predate the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Objective: To investigate the association between African ancestry and neutrophil counts among children living with HIV (CLWH). We also examined whether medications, clinical conditions, hospitalization, or HIV virologic control were associated with low neutrophil counts or African ancestry.

Design: We conducted a secondary analysis of the Early Pediatric Initiation Canada Child Cure Cohort (EPIC4) Study, a multicenter prospective cohort study of CLWH across 8 Canadian pediatric HIV care centers.

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Article Synopsis
  • Chronic/latent viral infections, particularly in people living with HIV (PLWH), can accelerate immunological aging, and the study investigated their impact on leukocyte telomere length (LTL).
  • The research involved 377 participants across various age groups, genders, and HIV statuses, finding that PLWH and older females tend to harbor more chronic/latent viruses, which is linked to shorter LTL.
  • Ultimately, the study indicates that persistent viral infections may contribute to immunological aging in PLWH and highlights the need to explore potential health issues associated with this later in life.
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Background: For pregnant women living with HIV (WLWH), engagement in care is crucial to maternal health and reducing the risk of perinatal transmission. To date, there have been no studies in Canada examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pregnant WLWH.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study assessing the impact of the pandemic on perinatal outcomes for pregnant WLWH using data from the Perinatal HIV Surveillance Program in British Columbia, Canada.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Two phases of serosurveys involved 2,864 participants and found that 4.4% of all ages and 8.8% of unvaccinated young children tested positive for antibodies, with higher rates observed in South Asian participants.
  • * The findings highlight a need for better diagnostic strategies that consider age-specific factors in understanding COVID-19’s impact on pediatric populations.
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Inadequate prenatal care increases risk for maternal infections going undetected and untreated, putting both the mother's health and that of her infant at risk. When pregnant women present late to care, routine testing that impacts infant management should include: hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg); serology for hepatitis C virus (HCV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and syphilis; and testing for and . If the mother was not tested before or after delivery and is not available for testing, the infant should undergo testing for HIV, HBV, HCV, and syphilis.

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Le risque que des infections maternelles ne soient ni décelées ni traitées augmente lorsque les soins prénatals sont inappropriés, ce qui met la santé de la mère et de son nouveau-né à risque. Lorsqu'une femme enceinte se présente tardivement pour recevoir des soins, les tests systématiques qui influent sur la prise en charge du nouveau-né devraient inclure l'antigène de surface de l'hépatite B (AgHBs), la sérologie du virus de l'hépatite C (VHC), du virus de l'immunodéficience humaine (VIH) et de la syphilis, de même que le dépistage de la et de la . Si la mère ne s'est pas soumise aux dépistages avant ou après l'accouchement et qu'elle n'est pas disponible pour s'y soumettre, il faudrait procéder au dépistage du VIH, du virus de l'hépatite B (VHB), du VHC et de la syphilis chez le nouveau-né.

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Objective: To evaluate the impact of type and timing of antiretroviral therapy (ART) on the risk of preterm delivery (PTD) and small-for-gestational age (SGA) birth among pregnant women and people living with HIV in Canada.

Methods: Data for this retrospective cohort study were analyzed from the Canadian Perinatal HIV Surveillance Program from 1990 to 2020. The association between ART and risk of PTD (<37 weeks) and SGA birth (<10th percentile) was explored using mixed effects logistic regression and time-dependent Cox proportional hazards models.

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Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute systemic vasculitis primarily affecting children younger than 5 y of age that has been reported as an adverse event following immunization (AEFI). The Canadian Immunization Monitoring Program ACTive (IMPACT) conducts active surveillance for KD following immunization across Canada. We characterized KD cases reported to IMPACT between 2013 and 2018.

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Background: While treatment guidelines for HIV in adults have evolved rapidly with the advent of new antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, those for the prevention of vertical HIV transmission in pregnancy have evolved more slowly due to safety and efficacy concerns. Here we describe Canadian prescribing patterns for ARV treatments during pregnancy and compare them to perinatal HIV prescribing guidelines of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), that are commonly used in Canada and include recommendations for newly commercialized therapies.

Methods: The Canadian Perinatal HIV Surveillance Program (CPHSP) captures annual medical data on mothers living with HIV and their infants from 23 sites across Canada.

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Article Synopsis
  • The systematic review aimed to understand how children contribute to the spread of COVID-19, which is crucial for informing school policies and vaccination strategies.
  • Researchers analyzed various studies to see both child-to-child and child-to-adult transmission and identified 40 relevant articles from a pool of over 6,100.
  • Findings revealed that children transmit the virus at a lower rate to other children (5.7%) compared to adults (26.4%), indicating that adults in households are at the highest risk of infection from children.
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Background: Compared with children who are HIV-unexposed and uninfected (CHUU), children who are HIV-exposed and uninfected (CHEU) experience more clinical complications. We investigated hospitalizations among CHEU by antenatal antiretroviral therapy (ART) exposure, in British Columbia, Canada.

Methods: This retrospective controlled cohort study used administrative health data from 1990 to 2012.

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Background: Women living with hepatitis C virus (HCV) are rarely addressed in research and may be overrepresented within key populations requiring additional support to access HCV care and treatment. We constructed the HCV care cascade among people diagnosed with HCV in British Columbia, Canada, as of 2019 to compare progress in care and treatment and to assess sex/gender gaps in HCV treatment access.

Methods: The BC Hepatitis Testers Cohort includes 1.

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Purpose: Childhood tuberculosis disease is difficult to diagnose and manage and is an under-recognised cause of morbidity and mortality. Reported data from Canada do not focus on childhood tuberculosis or capture key epidemiologic, clinical and microbiologic details. The purpose of this study was to assess demographics, presentation and clinical features of childhood tuberculosis in Canada.

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Group A (GAS) pharyngitis is a common clinical syndrome in primary care, yet controversy remains regarding the best approach to diagnosis and treatment, including the benefits of antibiotics. Children who are likely to have GAS pharyngitis based on history or physical examination should have a throat swab and, when positive, be treated with amoxicillin or penicillin. The disproportionate burden of acute rheumatic fever in Indigenous populations in Canada and special considerations for testing and treatment are discussed.

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Background: Infants HIV-exposed and uninfected (IHEU) who are born to women living with HIV are at an increased risk of preterm birth (PTB). Antenatal exposure to certain maternal antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimens has been associated with PTB, although existing studies in this domain are limited and report discordant findings. We determined odds of PTB among IHEU by antenatal ART regimens and timing of exposure, adjusting for maternal risk factors.

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Article Synopsis
  • A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to assess how comorbidities affect COVID-19 severity in children, revealing limited information on this topic.
  • The analysis included 42 studies encompassing over 275,000 children without comorbidities and about 9,400 with comorbidities, finding that severe COVID-19 occurred significantly more often in children with underlying health issues (5.1% vs. 0.2%).
  • The results indicated a higher risk of severe cases and COVID-19-related deaths for children with comorbidities, specifically highlighting obesity as a notable risk factor.
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Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and whole blood mitochondrial DNA (WB mtDNA) content are aging markers impacted by chronic diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. We characterized the relationship between these two markers in 312 women ≥12 years of age living with HIV and 300 HIV-negative controls. We found no relationship between the two markers cross-sectionally.

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Background: Neurological adverse events following immunization (AEFI) remain poorly characterized. Our objective was to describe pediatric acute and chronic encephalopathy and encephalitis cases following immunization reported via active sentinel surveillance from 1992 to 2012.

Methods: This case series provides a descriptive analysis of encephalopathy/encephalitis admissions reported to the Canadian Immunization Monitoring Program ACTive (IMPACT).

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Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the time to, and durability of, viral suppression, among Canadian children living with HIV after initiation of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART).

Design: Prospective, multicenter Canadian cohort study (Early Pediatric Initiation Canada Child Cure Cohort), using both prospective and retrospectively collected data.

Methods: Kaplan-Meir survival estimates with Cox regression were used to determine the time to and risk factors for viral suppression, defined as two consecutive undetectable viral loads (<50 copies/ml) at least 30 days apart after initiation of cART.

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