Factors associated with positive tuberculin skin test results among HIV-infected persons in Orel Oblast, Russia.

Background: The treatment of persons living with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune-deficiency syndrome (PLWHAs) for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) reduces tuberculosis (TB) morbidity. Despite a high TB burden and an expanding human immunodeficiency virus epidemic, Russia had limited data on the utility of the tuberculin skin test (TST) for LTBI diagnosis in PLWHAs.

Objective: To determine the prevalence and predictors of positive TSTs in PLWHAs in Orel Oblast.

CDC international HIV prevention research activities among injection drug users in Thailand and Russia.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has participated in collaborative HIV prevention research activities in injection drug users (IDUs) with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) in Bangkok, Thailand, from 1995 to the present and with the Orel AIDS Center in Orel Oblast, Russia, from 2001 to 2003. Studies in Bangkok have included an HIV prevention trial preparatory cohort from 1995 to 1998, a seroconverter cohort from 1998 to the present, a phase III trial of the AIDSVAX B/E gp120 HIV vaccine from 1999 to 2003, and a phase II/III HIV prophylaxis trial with tenofovir scheduled to begin in 2005. Activities in Orel included a review of HIV surveillance data in 2001, focus group discussions and a case-control study with HIV-infected and -uninfected IDUs in 2001, a cross-sectional study with the female sex partners of male IDUs in 2002, and a community outreach intervention in 2002-2003.

Implications of the growing HIV-1 epidemic for tuberculosis control in Russia.

Orel oblast, Russia, is the site of a WHO demonstration project for tuberculosis control. We used data acquired by the Center for Prevention of AIDS and Infectious Diseases to show that, in this region, the seroprevalence of HIV-1 infection has increased 33-fold in 4 years. The rapid spread of HIV-1 in Russia has serious implications for control of tuberculosis epidemics.

[Characteristics of several epidemiologic features of suppurative-septic diseases of staphylococcal etiology in obstetric institutions].

The authors studied the frequency of the purulent-septic diseases in puerperants and neonates and the percentage among them of affections of staphylococcus etiology, their seasonal incidence and nidality. The phage-type reference of the strains of staphylococci circulating at the maternity home, and their connection with the staphylococcus carrier state among the personnel and the extent of spread of the purulent-septic diseases was determined. There was revealed an interrelationship between the incidence of recording of the purulent-septic diseases at the maternity home and the level of staphylococcus carrier state among the medical personnel.