Antibody Response 3 Months after 2 Doses of BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine in Residents of Long-Term Care Facilities.

Background: Older adults living in long-term care facilities (LTCFs) are at increased risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19 and were identified as a priority group in COVID-19 vaccination strategies. Emerging evidence suggests vaccine effectiveness in LTCF populations, but data about median and long-term durability of immune response after vaccination are still limited.

Objectives: In this study, we assessed the humoral response to BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine 3 months after the second dose, in a cohort of 495 residents aged ≥65 years from 11 LTCF in Granada, Spain.

Comparison between Aptima® assays (Hologic) and the CoBAS® 6800 system (Roche) for the diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections caused by Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Mycoplasma genitalium.

Nowadays, it is of utmost importance to use fully validated assays for molecular-based diagnosis. In the field of sexually transmitted disease (STD), Roche and Hologic provide assays for diagnosing Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG), Mycoplasma genitalium (MG), and Trichomonas vaginalis (TV). A total of 212 clinical samples were tested.

Detection of sexually transmitted disease-causing pathogens from direct clinical specimens with the multiplex PCR-based STD Direct Flow Chip Kit.

Pathogens causing sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) include viruses, bacteria, and parasites. The ability to rapidly and efficiently detect these pathogens in a single reaction still remains a health challenge. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical reliability and accuracy of the STD Direct Flow Chip Kit (Vitro, IVD-EC approved), which can simultaneously detect up to 9 different species of STD pathogens at once.

A safe an easy method for building consensus HIV sequences from 454 massively parallel sequencing data.

Objective: To show how to generate a consensus sequence from the information of massive parallel sequences data obtained from routine HIV anti-retroviral resistance studies, and that may be suitable for molecular epidemiology studies.

Material And Methods: Paired Sanger (Trugene-Siemens) and next-generation sequencing (NGS) (454 GSJunior-Roche) HIV RT and protease sequences from 62 patients were studied. NGS consensus sequences were generated using Mesquite, using 10%, 15%, and 20% thresholds.

[Study of human immunodeficiency virus transmission chains in Andalusia: analysis from baseline antiretroviral resistance sequences].

Introduction And Objective: Protease and reverse transcriptase HIV-1 sequences provide useful information for patient clinical management, as well as information on resistance to antiretrovirals. The aim of this study is to evaluate transmission events, transmitted drug resistance, and to georeference subtypes among newly diagnosed patients referred to our center.

Methods: A study was conducted on 693 patients diagnosed between 2005 and 2012 in Southern Spain.

[Microbiological diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus infection].

This document attempts to update the main tasks and roles of the Clinical Microbiology laboratory in HIV diagnosis and monitoring. The document is divided into three parts. The first deals with HIV diagnosis and how serological testing has changed in the last few years, aiming to improve diagnosis and to minimize missed opportunities for diagnosis.

[Low prevalence of hepatitis B virus primary drug resistance in Southern Spain].

Introduction: To know the prevalence of primary resistance in chronic hepatitis B naïve patients is essential to decide on the need of routine laboratory testing.

Patients And Methods: The genetic sequence of the HBV polymerase from 105naïve patients was analysed.

Results: rtV173L, a lamivudine compensatory mutation, was detected in two patients (1.

[Update on hepatitis C therapy. New drugs, treatment response monitoring and emergence of resistance].

The development of novel direct antiviral agents (DAAs) against hepatitis C virus (HCV) has represented a breakthrough in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. Telaprevir and boceprevir are the first two protease inhibitor (PI) DAAs to be approved for combination therapy with pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) and ribavirin (RBV). In genotype 1 monoinfected patients, triple PI therapy has increased sustained viral response (SVR) rates by approximately 30% compared with conventional combination therapy.

Quantification of viral loads lower than 50 copies per milliliter by use of the Cobas AmpliPrep/Cobas TaqMan HIV-1 test, version 2.0, can predict the likelihood of subsequent virological rebound to >50 copies per milliliter.

After 1 year of follow-up, patients on HAART with a baseline viral load (VL) of <20 copies/ml showed significantly lower odds of virological rebound to two consecutive VLs of >50 copies/ml than those with baseline VLs of 20 to 39 and 40 to 49 (P < 0.001). The time to virological rebound was also significantly shorter (P < 0.

[Chemical characteristics, mechanism of action and antiviral activity of etravirine].

Etravirine (ETR) is a diarylpyrimidine derivative with a polycyclic molecule composed of 3 aromatic rings with single bonds between the rings (C(20)H(15)BrN(60)). The drug acts through a mechanism of noncompetitive inhibition on binding to a hydrophobic binding pocket, very close to the active center of the enzyme, provoking an allosteric transition to a conformation that distorts its structure and impedes DNA polymerization. The 3 rings with single bonds between the rings confer the molecule with great fl exibility and torsion.