Brucellar Endocarditis of the Tricuspid Valve: A Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Brucellar endocarditis is a rare entity commonly described as a severe disease associated with high mortality and generally requiring valve surgery for cure. Right-sided endocarditis, a very uncommon presentation of brucellosis, may be associated with a better prognosis. We describe the case of a 72-year-old woman admitted to our institution with a persistent fever and multiple pulmonary infiltrates.

Increased Association of Pulmonary Thromboembolism and Tuberculosis during COVID-19 Pandemic: Data from an Italian Infectious Disease Referral Hospital.

Pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) has been associated with tuberculosis (TB), but the true incidence is unknown. The aim of our study was to retrospectively evaluate the PTE prevalence in TB patients hospitalized at the National Institute for Infectious Diseases L. Spallanzani during the January 2016-December 2021 period.

Benefits of Steroid Therapy in COVID-19 Patients with Different PaO/FiO Ratio at Admission.

Introduction: The use of steroid therapy in patients within the context of SARS-CoV-2 infection is still a matter of debate. This study aimed to evaluate if potential steroid benefits could be predicted by the ratio of arterial oxygen partial pressure (PaO in mmHg) to fractional inspired oxygen (FiO) (P/F) in COVID-19 patients at admission.

Materials And Methods: Medical records were retrospectively collected from all adult patients admitted because of COVID-19 from 29 January to 31 July 2020.

Increase in Tuberculosis Diagnostic Delay during First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Data from an Italian Infectious Disease Referral Hospital.

Background: The WHO advised that the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on TB services was estimated to be dramatic due to the disruption of TB services.

Methods: A retrospective data collection and evaluation was conducted to include all the patients hospitalized for TB at INMI from 9 March to 31 August 2020 (lockdown period and three months thereafter). For the purpose of the study, data from patients hospitalized in the same period of 2019 were also collected.

Hessarek Gastroenteritis with Bacteremia: A Case Report and Literature Review.

subspecies serotype Hessarek ( Hessarek) is considered a serovar with high host specificity and is an uncommon cause of disease in humans; no cases of Hessarek bacteremia have been reported in humans to date. On 16 July 2019, a young male presented abdominal pain, vomit, diarrhea, and fever up to 41 °C, a few hours after a kebab meal containing goat meat; he went to the Emergency Room, where a Film Array GI Panel (BioFire, Biomerieux Company, Marcy-L´Étoile, France) was performed on his feces and results were positive for . The culture of the feces was negative, but the blood culture was positive for .

Clostridium difficile infection among hospitalized HIV-infected individuals: epidemiology and risk factors: results from a case-control study (2002-2013).

Background: HIV infection is a risk factor for Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) yet the immune deficiency predisposing to CDI is not well understood, despite an increasing incidence of CDI among such individuals. We aimed to estimate the incidence and to evaluate the risk factors of CDI among an HIV cohort in Italy.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective case-control (1:2) study.

Extra-cerebral severe infections associated with haemorrhagic hereditary telangiectasia (Rendu-Osler-Weber Disease): five cases and a review of the literature.

Hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is one of the most common autosomal dominant disorders and is characterized by genetically determined abnormalities of vascular structure. People affected by HHT are predisposed to severe infections such as cerebral abscesses, typical of patients with pulmonary arteriovenous malformations, and extra-cerebral infections such as bacteraemia, septic arthritis, osteomyelitis, hepatic abscesses, skin infections and infective endocarditis. We present a retrospective series of severe bacterial extra-cerebral infections in five patients affected by HHT, admitted to our Institute from January 2007 to June 2013.

Salmonella enterica ssp. arizonae infection in a 43-year-old Italian man with hypoglobulinemia: a case report and review of the literature.

Introduction: Salmonella enterica ssp. arizonae is an uncommon human pathogen with serious infections reported in immunocompromised hosts. In Europe, only a few cases have been described.

Hemolytic anemia due to acute cytomegalovirus infection in an immunocompetent adult: a case report and review of the literature.

Introduction: Cytomegalovirus is a common virus responsible for a wide range of clinical manifestations. Hemolysis is a rare but potentially life-threatening complication of cytomegalovirus infection, described mostly in immunocompromised patients, the pathogenesis of which is still unclear.We performed a review of the literature regarding cases of hemolytic anemia during acute cytomegalovirus infection in apparently immunocompetent individuals.

Rhodococcus equi infection in HIV-infected individuals: case reports and review of the literature.

Rhodococcus equi is a gram-positive, coryneform bacterium that causes zoonotic infection mainly in horses and foals. It sometimes affects humans presenting as cavitary pneumonia. Immunocompromised patients, including HIV-infected patients, are more susceptible to R.

HIV-1 DNA burden dynamics in CD4 T cells and monocytes in patients undergoing a transient therapy interruption.

Replication-competent HIV, as well as HIV-1 DNA, has been detected in CD4 T cells and in monocytes during antiretroviral therapy (ART), indicating that these cells could represent an important viral reservoir. We measured HIV-1 DNA in monocytes and CD4 T cells in patients undergoing transient therapy interruption (TTI), to establish the dynamic of HIV-1 DNA burden and to find possible correlations with immune restoration and re-establishment of virological control after ART resumption. In most patients CD4 depletion and viral load rebound followed TTI.

Levels of interleukin-15 in plasma may predict a favorable outcome of structured treatment interruption in patients with chronic human immunodeficiency virus infection.

Structured treatment interruption (STI) may help to alleviate the problems associated with long-term antiretroviral therapy (ART) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients. We analyzed the role that baseline levels of cytokines in plasma play as markers of a favorable outcome of STI. Two groups of patients were defined: STI responders and STI nonresponders.

Dynamics of viral load rebound in plasma and semen after stopping effective antiretroviral therapy.

A rebound in the plasma and seminal viral load was detected in 12 patients after the interruption of effective highly active antiretroviral therapy. The viral rebound was generally higher in plasma, although the highest level observed during interruption was higher in semen in two patients. The reintroduction of therapy was followed by an overall decrease in HIV-RNA in plasma and semen.

Computer-based design of an HLA-haplotype and HIV-clade independent cytotoxic T-lymphocyte assay for monitoring HIV-specific immunity.

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)- specific CD8-positive cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) play a key role in controlling HIV infection. Monitoring CTL response could be clinically relevant during structured therapy interruption (STI), HIV exposure, and vaccine trials. However, HLA patients' restriction and HIV variability limited the development of a CTL assay with broad specificity.

Expansion of pre-terminally differentiated CD8 T cells in chronic HIV-positive patients presenting a rapid viral rebound during structured treatment interruption.

Objective: The influence of structured treatment interruption on effector/memory CD8 T cell dynamics was analysed in chronic HIV-infected patients showing a rapid or delayed viral rebound.

Design: Structured treatment interruption consisted of at least one month of discontinuation, followed by highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) resumption. Two groups of HIV structured treatment interruption patients were selected on the basis of plasma viral HIV-RNA value (> 30 000 copies/ml, branched DNA): group A (n = 14), patients with a rapid viral rebound (within one month) and group B (n = 6), patients with a delayed or no viral rebound (after a minimum of 4 months).

Primary Toxoplasma gondii infection in a pregnant human immunodeficiency virus-infected woman.

We report a 36-year-old HIV-infected woman who developed primary Toxoplasma gondii infection during pregnancy that was treated with spiramycin and antiretroviral drugs. There was no vertical transmission of toxoplasmosis and HIV.

NK cell activity controls human herpesvirus 8 latent infection and is restored upon highly active antiretroviral therapy in AIDS patients with regressing Kaposi's sarcoma.

Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) develops upon reactivation of human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8) infection and virus dissemination to blood and tissue cells, including endothelial and KS spindle cells where the virus is mostly present in a latent form. However, this may likely require the presence of compromised host immune responses and/or the evasion of infected cells from the host immune response. In this regard, mechanisms of evasion of productively infected cells from both CTL and NK cell responses, and resistance of latently infected cells from specific CTL, have already been shown.