Publications by authors named "Zahra P Theilgaard"

Scrub typhus is caused by the mite-borne bacterium Orientia tsutsugamushi. Imported cases have been suspected in Denmark but no diagnostic method has yet been available to confirm the diagnosis. This is a case report of a 38-year-old male admitted to hospital with high fever, severe malaise and headache after returning from Malaysia.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The success of PMTCT programs relies heavily on mothers staying engaged throughout the treatment process.
  • - In a Tanzanian clinical trial, senior nurses were introduced to decrease the high dropout rates among mothers from the program.
  • - The intervention led to significantly higher participation rates at various stages of treatment, but there was no noticeable effect on the transmission of HIV from mother to child.
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Objectives: This study was performed to determine the seroprevalence and incidence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection among HIV-infected women during pregnancy and after delivery in a cohort of 200 Tanzanian women.

Methods: HIV-infected women participating in a study on antiretroviral therapy for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission between 2006 and 2011, were tested retrospectively for anti-HEV immunoglobulin G (IgG) in plasma samples at 9 months post-partum. Anti-HEV IgG-positive patients were tested for anti-HEV IgG and immunoglobulin M (IgM) in samples from enrolment, and seroconverting women were tested for HEV RNA.

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Introduction: Risk factors for breast milk transmission of HIV-1 from mother to child include high plasma and breast milk viral load, low maternal CD4 count and breast pathology such as mastitis.

Objective: To determine the impact of nevirapine and subclinical mastitis on HIV-1 RNA in maternal plasma and breast milk after intrapartum single-dose nevirapine combined with either 1-week tail of Combivir (zidovudine/lamivudine) or single-dose Truvada (tenofovir/emtricitabine).

Methods: Maternal plasma and bilateral breast milk samples were collected between April 2008 and April 2011 at 1, 4 and 6 weeks postpartum from HIV-infected Tanzanian women.

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Background: By the end of 2009 an estimated 2.5 million children worldwide were living with HIV-1, mostly as a consequence of vertical transmission, and more than 90% of these children live in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2008 the World Health Organization (WHO), recommended early initiation of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) to all HIV infected infants diagnosed within the first year of life, and since 2010, within the first two years of life, irrespective of CD4 count or WHO clinical stage.

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Background: Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) has been available free of charge in Tanga, Tanzania since 2005. However we have found that a high percentage of women referred from prevention of mother-to-child transmission services to the Care and Treatment Clinics (CTC) for HAART never registered at the CTCs. Few studies have focused on the motivating and deterring factors to presenting for HAART particularly in relation to women.

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Background: Understanding the distribution of antiretro-virals in breastfeeding HIV-positive mothers is essential, both for prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission and for research on the development of drug resistance. The ARK nevirapine (NVP)-test is an immunoassay method for nevirapine measurements, developed and validated for plasma use. In this study, the ARK NVP-test was evaluated for measurement of nevirapine concentrations in breast milk.

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