Publications by authors named "Pecavar B"

Introduction: Disease progression, drug resistance mutations, and treatment strategies may vary by HIV-1 subtype. This study determined HIV-1 subtypes circulating in Slovenia, a Central European country with an HIV-1 epidemic driven by men who have sex with men, focusing on molecular epidemiology of non-B subtypes.

Methods: A total of 367 HIV-1 sequences were included.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Prevalence of HIV in Slovenia is low, and men who have sex with men (MSM) have the highest risk for infection. Rates of enrolment into HIV care, initiation of antiretroviral therapy and reaching an undetectable viral load in HIV-infected patients are very high. Prevention of HIV infection for MSM with PrEP is not formally available in Slovenia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The third Slovenian national survey on healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) aimed to estimate HAI prevalence and identify associated factors in acute care hospitals.
  • In a one-day study with 5,743 patients, 6.6% had at least one HAI, with pneumonia being the most common type, especially prevalent in ICUs where the rate was 30.6%.
  • Key risk factors for HAIs included the use of central and peripheral vascular catheters and urinary catheters, highlighting the need for effective prevention and control measures in healthcare settings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

HIV-positive individuals that have a detected transmitted drug resistance (TDR) at baseline have a higher risk of virological failure with antiretroviral therapy (ART). This study offers an update on the prevalence of TDR in Slovenia, looks for onward transmission of TDR, and reassesses the need for baseline drug resistance testing. Blinded questionnaires and partial pol sequences were obtained from 54.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Vascular graft infections (VGIs) pose significant health risks, and improving microbial identification is crucial for effective treatment.
  • A study analyzed 22 patients with VGIs, using sonication and culture techniques to identify causative organisms; success rates for identifying pathogens were high.
  • The findings suggest that sonicate fluid culture and broad-range PCR can enhance the effectiveness of antimicrobial treatment, highlighting the need for further research on antibiotic timing before graft removal.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) occurs in 22.4 - 100% of critically-ill hospitalized patients with influenza infection. In up to 2/3, it is severe enough to necessitate renal replacement therapy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Resolving dilemma whether the rise in the number of HIV diagnoses represents an actual increase in HIV transmissions or is a result of improved HIV surveillance is crucial before implementing national HIV prevention strategies. Annual proportions of recent infections (RI) among newly diagnosed persons infected with HIV-1 in Slovenia during 27 years (1986-2012) were determined using an algorithm consisting of routine baseline CD4 and HIV viral load measurements and the Aware BED EIA HIV-1 Incidence Test (BED test). The study included the highest coverage of persons diagnosed with HIV during the entire duration of an HIV epidemic in a given country/region (71%).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The HIV-1 epidemic in Slovenia, a small Central European country, has some characteristics that make it an ideal model to study HIV-1 transmission. The epidemic is predominantly affecting men who have sex with men infected with subtype B (89% of all patients), has a low prevalence (less than 1/1000) and is growing slowly. The aim of the present study was to analyze in detail the evolutionary history and the determinants of transmission.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Tick borne encephalitis is the most frequent vector-transmitted infectious disease of the central nervous system in Europe and Asia. The disease caused by European subtype of tick borne encephalitis virus has typically a biphasic clinical course with the second phase presenting as meningitis, meningoencephalitis, or meningoencephalomyelitis. Cerebrospinal fluid pleocytosis is considered a condition sine qua non for the diagnosis of neurologic involvement in tick borne encephalitis, which in routine clinical practice is confirmed by demonstration of serum IgM and IgG antibodies to tick borne encephalitis virus.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Since the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy, chronic hepatitis C has become one of the leading causes of non-AIDS-related morbidity and mortality in patients with HIV infection. Two previous Slovenian nationwide studies published in 2002 and 2009 showed a very low prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among Slovenian HIV-infected individuals (14.5% and 10.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Slovenia is a small European country with a total of 547 HIV-infected individuals cumulatively reported by the end of 2011. However, the estimated incidence rate of HIV infections increased from 7.0 per million in 2003 to 26.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To investigate clinical and laboratory features of patients with Influenza A H1N1 virus infection hospitalized during 2009/2010 pandemic.

Methods: Prospective observational study comparing clinical and laboratory characteristics of Influenza A H1N1 positive and negative patients with influenza-like illness (ILI).

Results: From October 21, 2009 to February 14, 2010 196 ILI patients were admitted, of which 66 tested positive for Influenza A H1N1.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective And Design: Astrocytes actively participate in the inactivation of neurotransmitters. In this work we elucidated the contribution of astrocytes in clearance of histamine, a process which has not yet been fully clarified.

Methods: The characteristics of [(3)H]-histamine uptake were determined in cultured neonatal rat type 1 astrocytes and histamine-N-methyl-transferase expression was determined using RT-PCR.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF