Human babesiosis is an emerging zoonotic disease; diffused especially in some regions of the United States, it has been less frequently observed in other continents, including Europe. Serological surveys suggest that babesiosis could be more frequent than expected in European countries, representing an emerging health-issue and a possible harm, especially in immunocompromised populations. Only one case of human babesiosis has been reported in Italy and data about the diffusion of the pathogen in this country are scant.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: We evaluated the effect of rapid ART (RA) compared to delayed ART (DA) on viral load suppression (viral load <50 cp/mL) and loss to follow-up (LTFU) in a cohort of migrants living with HIV (MLWHs) in Italy.
Methods: Data were retrospectively gathered from MLWHs who began care at the Infectious and Tropical Diseases Unit of the Careggi University Hospital from January 2014 to December 2022. RA was defined as antiretrovirals prescribed within 7 days of HIV diagnosis.
Objective: Novel mRNA-based vaccines have been proven to be powerful tools in combating the global pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 protecting individuals, especially the immunocompromised, from COVID-19. Still, it remains largely unknown how solid organ transplant and different immunosuppressive medications affect development of vaccine-induced immunity.
Methods: In this work, we monitored humoral and cellular memory responses after mRNA SARS-CoV-2 two-doses and booster doses vaccination in cystic fibrosis lung transplanted patients (CFT) and compared them with both cystic fibrosis patients without lung transplant (CF) and with kidney transplant recipients (KT).
Purpose: Few reports focused on the role of oral microbiome diversity in HIV infection. We characterized the microbiota-immunity axis in a cohort of treatment-naïve HIV-1-infected patients undergoing antiretroviral therapy (ART) focusing on the oral microbiome (OM) and immunological responsivity.
Methods: The sequencing of 16S rRNA V3-V4 hypervariable region was performed on salivary samples of 15 healthy control (HC) and 12 HIV + patients before starting ART and after reaching virological suppression.
Cardiac involvement, such as myocarditis and pericarditis, can be a severe complication of monkeypox virus (mpox) infection and could be related to other co-infections with cardiac involvement. Tecovirimat is an antiviral specifically designed to inhibit smallpox infection diffusion and approved by the FDA for other Orthopoxvirus infections; its efficacy in mpox-infected patients is not well established. We present the case of a cardiac complication during mpox infection in a previously undiagnosed Lyme disease in a 42-year-old man living with HIV.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFData regarding the relationship between coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and active or latent tuberculosis (TB) are discordant. We conducted a retrospective study examining the impact of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) on the clinical progression of COVID-19 patients. We selected 213 patients admitted with COVID-19 in a tertiary-level Italian hospital (February-December 2020), who underwent a QuantiFERON-TB test (QFT) and/or chest radiological exam.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patients with B-cell lymphoma are a fragile category of subjects, particularly exposed to infections and characterized by an impaired vaccination response due to the disease itself and, even more, to the chemotherapy regimen. For this reason, extensive knowledge of the immune response status of these subjects is of fundamental importance to obtain possible indications for a tailored immunization strategy.
Methods: We enrolled two cohorts of patients with B-cell lymphoma under rituximab treatment or 3-24 months after treatment.
: People Living With HIV (PLWH), with advanced disease, lower CD4+ T cell counts or an unsuppressed HIV viral load can have a suboptimal vaccine response. For this reason, in the current COVID-19 pandemic, they represent a prioritized population for the SARS-CoV-2 fourth (or second booster) vaccine dose. This work aims to investigate the effects of a second booster on the reactivation of the spike-specific humoral and cell-mediated immune responses in PLWH.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Purpose: Waning immunity and the surge of SARS-CoV-2 variants are responsible for breakthrough infections, i.e., infections in fully vaccinated individuals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: SARS-CoV-2 infection in immunocompromised hosts is challenging, and prolonged viral shedding can be a common complication in these patients. We describe the clinical, immunological, and virological course of a patient with eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis, who developed the status of long-term asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 carrier for more than 7 months.
Methods: Over the study period, the patient underwent 20 RT-PCR tests for SARS-CoV-2 detection on nasopharyngeal swabs.
Background: Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection is characterized by persistent systemic inflammation and immune activation, even in patients receiving effective antiretroviral therapy (ART). Converging data from many cross-sectional studies suggest that gut microbiota (GM) changes can occur throughout including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, treated by ART; however, the results are contrasting. For the first time, we compared the fecal microbial composition, serum and fecal microbial metabolites, and serum cytokine profile of treatmentnaïve patients before starting ART and after reaching virological suppression, after 24 wk of ART therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBACKGROUNDImmunization against SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, occurs via natural infection or vaccination. However, it is currently unknown how long infection- or vaccination-induced immunological memory will last.METHODSWe performed a longitudinal evaluation of immunological memory to SARS-CoV-2 up to 1 year after infection and following mRNA vaccination in naive individuals and individuals recovered from COVID-19 infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study evaluated the efficacy, safety and durability of a switch to co-formulated RPV/TDF-TAF/FTC (RPV-STR) or DTG/ABC/3TC (DTG-STR) in virologically-suppressed HIV-positive patients in a single Italian centre. All HIV-infected ART-experienced patients switching to RPV-STR or DTG-STR with HIV-RNA <50 copies/mL were included. Outcomes were incidence rate and rate ratios for discontinuation due to all causes (DAC), to adverse events (DAE) and to virological failure (VF) after 4 years of follow-up.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Although the adaptive immune response to SARS-CoV-2 has been characterised in the acute and early convalescent phase of the disease, few studies explore whether natural infection elicits long-lasting immunological memory in recovered individuals. In this work, we aimed to assess the maintenance of immunological memory to SARS-CoV-2.
Methods: We evaluated the long-term virus-specific cellular and humoral immune response in the members of an Italian Serie A football team, who experienced a cluster of COVID-19 in March 2020, which was strictly evaluated in the following months.
The characterization of the adaptive immune response to COVID-19 vaccination in individuals who recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection may define current and future clinical practice. To determine the effect of the 2-dose BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccination schedule in individuals who recovered from COVID-19 (COVID-19-recovered subjects) compared with naive subjects, we evaluated SARS-CoV-2 Spike-specific T and B cell responses, as well as specific IgA, IgG, IgM, and neutralizing antibodies titers in 22 individuals who received the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, 11 of whom had a previous history of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Evaluations were performed before vaccination and then weekly until 7 days after second injection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLittle is known about long-term maintenance of virologic suppression in HIV migrants in Italy. The study aims to compare virologic failure rates and associated factors among antiretroviral therapy (ART)-naïve migrants and natives enrolled in the ARCA database since 2007 who achieved virologic suppression within 18 months from the beginning of the ART. Kaplan-Meier method assessed the probability of virologic suppression and failure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe characterization of cell-mediated and humoral adaptive immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 is fundamental to understand COVID-19 progression and the development of immunological memory to the virus. In this study, we detected T-cells reactive to SARS-CoV-2 proteins M, S, and N, as well as serum virus-specific IgM, IgA, IgG, in nearly all SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals, but not in healthy donors. Virus-reactive T cells exhibited signs of in vivo activation, as suggested by the surface expression of immune-checkpoint molecules PD1 and TIGIT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Dengue (DENV) and Zika virus (ZIKV) are important mosquito-transmitted viruses.
Objectives: To investigate the performance of Standard F, Fluorescence Immunoassay (FIA, SD Biosensor Inc., Suwon, South Korea) providing results in 15 min to detect DENV IgG, IgM and NS1Ag, and ZIKV IgG, IgM, and Ag.
Patient Prefer Adherence
November 2018
Aim: This study aimed to determine rates of retention in care, viral suppression, and use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and identify risk factors for loss to follow-up (FU) in an adult cohort from a tertiary teaching hospital in Florence, Italy.
Methods: We included all newly diagnosed HIV-infected patients aged >18 years who were linked to our clinic from July 2007 to December 2015. On July 31, 2017, we evaluated the proportion of patients retained in care, on ART, and having HIV RNA <50 copies/mL.
J Obstet Gynaecol Res
December 2016
Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate immunoglobulin M indirect-fluorescent antibody test (IgM IFAT) for the diagnosis of acute or chronic Toxoplasma infection in pregnancy.
Methods: Pregnant women with suspected acute toxoplasmosis referred to the Tuscany Reference Center for Infectious Diseases in Pregnancy during the period 1998-2012 were retrospectively enrolled. All women were tested with a panel of serological tests, including enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for IgG avidity and IgM IFAT.