Routine HIV testing in acute care hospitals: Changing practice to curb a local HIV epidemic in Vancouver, BC.

Early treatment of HIV infection increases life expectancy and reduces infectivity; however, delayed HIV diagnosis remains common. Implementation and sustainability of hospital-based routine HIV testing in Vancouver, British Columbia, was evaluated to address a local HIV epidemic by facilitating earlier diagnosis and treatment. Public health issued a recommendation in 2011 to offer HIV testing to all patients presenting to three Vancouver hospitals as part of routine care, including all patients admitted to medical/surgical units with expansion to emergency departments (ED).

Near real-time monitoring of HIV transmission hotspots from routine HIV genotyping: an implementation case study.

Background: HIV evolves rapidly and therefore infections with similar genetic sequences are likely linked by recent transmission events. Clusters of related infections can represent subpopulations with high rates of transmission. We describe the implementation of an automated near real-time system to monitor and characterise HIV transmission hotspots in British Columbia, Canada.

Increased risk of tuberculosis among foreign-born persons with diabetes in California, 2010-2012.

Background: Diabetes increases the risk of tuberculosis. We sought to identify populations of persons with diabetes in California at further increased risk for tuberculosis to target tuberculosis infection screening and treatment efforts.

Methods: We performed a retrospective population-based analysis of adult (aged ≥18 years) tuberculosis cases reported in California during 2010-2012.

Genes associated with an effective host response by Chinook salmon to Renibacterium salmoninarum.

An effective host response to Renibacterium salmoninarum, the etiologic agent of bacterial kidney disease, is poorly characterized. Using suppression subtractive hybridization, we exploited the difference in early host response in the pronephros of fish challenged by an attenuated strain (MT239) or a virulent strain (ATCC 33209) of R. salmoninarum.