Impaired anti-HBV vaccine response in non-cirrhotic chronic HCV is not overcome by double dose regimen: randomized control trial.

Introduction And Objectives: Some studies suggest chronic HCV infection diminishes responses to the anti-HBV vaccine. We evaluated the efficacy of double versus standard dose HBV vaccination among HCV patients without cirrhosis.

Patients And Methods: 141 adults with untreated chronic HCV were randomized to HBV vaccination with double dose (40μg) or standard dose (20μg) at 0, 1 and 6 months; 70 healthy HCV-negative patients given standard dose served as controls.

HAV and HBV seroprevalence in 1,000 patients with chronic HCV infection in a Tertiary Care Center in São Paulo, Brazil.

Unlabelled:  Background. Patients with chronic HCV infection and superinfection by hepatitis A virus (HAV) or hepatitis B virus (HBV) have higher morbidity and mortality when compared with those without HCV infection. Therefore, HAV and HBV active immunization has become mandatory in this population and hence their serological markers must be determined.

Parasternum pleural-cutaneous fistula in a severely immunosuppressed HIV-positive patient.

Pleural tuberculosis occurs in 30% of patients with tuberculosis, and the percentage of patients with tuberculosis pleural effusions is comparable to human immunodeficiency virus HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals, although pleural tuberculosis is rare in HIV-positive patients with CD4+ counts < 200 cells/mm(3). Pleural tuberculosis in HIV-positive patients is likely to happen in young patients, and is more frequent in intravenous drug abusers, with more acid-fast bacilli identifiable in pleural tissue. We report a rare case of pleural tuberculosis in a severely immunosuppressed HIV-positive patient, presented as two parasternum pleural-cutaneous fistula.

Estimating the length of the first antiretroviral therapy regiment durability in São Paulo, Brazil.

Brazil was the first country to provide unrestricted, cost-free access to antiretroviral (ARV) medicine for AIDS treatment. However, there is little data about the benefits of such a policy for these patients. We evaluated the duration of benefit obtained with the introduction of ARVs, defined as the durability of the first ARV regiment.