[The impact of climate change on health].

Climate changes evidenced by an increase in our planet's mean temperature, changes in rainfall, increased sea level and extreme weather conditions, favor air and soil contamination, ocean acidification, droughts, floods, heat waves and forest fires, which affect the health and wellbeing of exposed populations. These changes will exert negative effects on respiratory and cardiovascular systems, nutritional status, burden of infectious diseases, especially vector-borne infections, and human mental health. Moreover, environmental damages, such as loss of biodiversity, ecological collapse and deterioration of socioeconomic factors such as agricultural and fishery production, and the loss of habitable land, will impulse massive migrations.

[Evaluation of HIV epidemic in Chile. A statement of the Chilean Academy of Medicine].

The Chilean Academy of Medicine convened a commission to evaluate the status of HIV epidemic and the national response to it, regarding its achievements, gaps and challenges, aiming to recommend actions to optimize assessment quality and national response. This publication summarizes the agreed upon opinion of its members. The epidemic is overwhelmingly sexually transmitted, predominant in homo/bisexual men.

[Evolution of mortality, retention and loss to follow up of HIV infected subjects followed in a special clinic].

Background: The HIV epidemic reached Chile in late 1980s and as an early response, AIDS care centers were organized. Fundación Arriarán (FA) was the first center. Free antiretroviral therapy (ART) was later provided with progressive coverage and complexity over the years.

[Depression in HIV infection: prevalence, risk factors and management].

Depression is one of the main psychiatric co-morbidities in HIV infection, presenting with a significantly higher prevalence than in the general population (around 35%). Its presence has been associated with poor quality of life, HIV disease progression and poor adherence to antiretroviral therapy. Although antidepressive treatment has demonstrated effectiveness on the management of depressive symptoms, improvement of clinical and laboratory parameters, and enhancement of antiretroviral adherence, depression is frequently under diagnosed and under treated in these patients.

[Resistance to anti-retroviral therapy in Chilean patients with HIV-1 from 2002 to 2005].

Background: Resistance limits the effectiveness of anti-retroviral therapy. In Chile, there is free access to highly active anti-retroviral therapy since 2001, but there is no information about the frequency of mutations associated to drug resistance.

Aim: To determine the most common mutations associated to anti-retroviral drug resistance in Chile.

[Evolution of mortality and current status of an HIV-infected population cared for at a comprehensive HIV/AIDS center in Chile].

Background: Chile, a middle-income country with an HIV epidemic of moderate proportions (global infection rate 0.2%) began a government sponsored, free, highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for patients from the public health system in 2001 reaching in 2004 a 100% coverage. Arriaran Foundation (AF) is the largest public AIDS care center for adults in the country.

[Treatment of community-acquired pneumonia in adults].

Unlabelled: Appropriate antibiotic treatment reduces the duration of symptoms associated to pneumonia, the risk of complications and mortality. In most cases, it is not possible to identify the etiologic agent so antibiotic treatment is empirically prescribed. In Chile, one third of Streptococcus pneumoniae strain isolates has diminished susceptibility to penicillin; in-vitro erythromycin resistance is about 10-15% and cefotaxime resistance 2-10%.