Experimental evaluation of the potential for crayfish plague transmission through the digestive system of warm-blooded predators.

The crayfish plague pathogen (Aphanomyces astaci) can be transmitted through the digestive system of fish, but its dispersal through mammalian and bird digestive tracts has been considered unlikely, and direct experimental evidence remains scarce. We present a small-scale transmission experiment with European otter and American mink fed with infected crayfish, and experiments testing survival of cultures of five A. astaci strains at temperatures corresponding to those inside mammal and bird bodies.

[30 years since the first AIDS cases were reported: history and the present part III].

The end of the article features the development of HIV/AIDS diagnosis and its implementation in the Czech Republic. The establishment of the National Reference Laboratory for AIDS (NRL AIDS) at the National Institute of Public Health late in 1985 is mentioned and its responsibilities as the methodology centre in the areas of HIV/AIDS laboratory diagnosis and epidemiology are specified. In cooperation with the respective experts, a pilot HIV/AIDS prevalence study was conducted in the Czech Republic.

[30 years since the first AIDS cases were reported: history and the present. Part II].

HIV taxonomy, morphology, biophysical properties, and replication cycle as well as modes of HIV transmission in humans are described. State of the art laboratory diagnosis of HIV/AIDS, core clinical diagnostic criteria for AIDS, and AIDS treatment guidelines are summarized. Global HIV/AIDS epidemic and relevant prevention activities are discussed.

Treatment-associated polymorphisms in protease are significantly associated with higher viral load and lower CD4 count in newly diagnosed drug-naive HIV-1 infected patients.

Background: The effect of drug resistance transmission on disease progression in the newly infected patient is not well understood. Major drug resistance mutations severely impair viral fitness in a drug free environment, and therefore are expected to revert quickly. Compensatory mutations, often already polymorphic in wild-type viruses, do not tend to revert after transmission.

[30 years since the first AIDS cases were reported: history and the present. Part I].

The 30-year natural history of AIDS disease is presented from the first clinical cases reported in 1981 to the identification of the HIV as the etiological agent of the disease. The priority dispute between Robert C. Gallo and Luc Montagnier over the discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus is briefly addressed.