Elucidating the 3D Structure of a Surface Membrane Antigen from as a Serodiagnostic Biomarker of Chagas Disease.

Chagas disease (CD) is a vector-borne parasitosis, caused by the protozoan parasite , that affects millions of people worldwide. Although endemic in South America, CD is emerging throughout the world due to climate change and increased immigratory flux of infected people to non-endemic regions. Containing of the diffusion of CD is challenged by the asymptomatic nature of the disease in early infection stages and by the lack of a rapid and effective diagnostic test.

Structure, Immunoreactivity, and In Silico Epitope Determination of SmSPI Serpin for Immunodiagnostic Application.

The human parasitic disease Schistosomiasis is caused by the trematode flatworm that infects freshwaters in tropical regions of the world, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, South America, and the Far-East. It has also been observed as an emerging disease in Europe, due to increased immigration. In addition to improved therapeutic strategies, it is imperative to develop novel, rapid, and sensitive diagnostic tests that can detect the parasite, allowing timely treatment.

Case Report: A Fatal Case of West Nile Virus Meningoencephalomyelitis in a Woman with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Initially Misdiagnosed as SARS-CoV-2 Infection.

We present a fatal case of West Nile virus meningoencephalomyelitis initially misdiagnosed as COVID-19 in a 63-year-old Egyptian woman with a previous diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus. The patient's medical history and immunosuppressive therapy, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, substantially broadened the differential diagnosis of her encephalitis.

Imported dengue fever: a 16-years retrospective analysis in Milan (Italy) and a brief review of the European literature.

Dengue Fever (DF), transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, is the most common arthropod-borne infection, it is almost ubiquitous in tropical and subtropical areas with an estimate of 360 million infections per year. A competent vector (A. albopictus) is present in most of Southern Europe and is endemic in Italy.

Dengue fever complicated by liver dysfunction due to possible co-infection with hepatitis E in a returning traveller from Cuba.

Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne infection that co-circulates with Chikungunya and Zika virus infection in many parts of the world. Dengue virus (DENV) is occasionally responsible for acute hepatitis and a few cases of acute hepatitis due to co-infection with DENV and hepatitis E virus have been described in India. A 37-year-old Cuban woman living in Italy was admitted to our hospital with a presumed arboviral infection upon her return to Italy short after a 15-day trip to her home-country to visit relatives.

Cervical Human Papillomavirus genotypes in HIV-infected women: a cross-sectional analysis of the VALHIDATE study.

Introduction: Primary-prevention by prophylactic vaccination against HPV-related cancers and HPV-based screening programs are based on HPV-type distribution in immunocompetent individuals. HIV-infected women are at high risk of invasive HPV-disease sustained by a broader range of HPV-types and have higher multi-type infection rates than immunocompetent hosts.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional analysis of High Risk HPV (HR HPV) type distribution in 805 HIV+ women (HIW) compared with a control group of 1402 immunocompetent HIV- women (SPW) enrolled in the VALHIDATE study in order to define HPV type-specific distribution according to cytology.

Primary HIV infection in patients with acute hepatitis B: a report of two cases.

We describe two patients admitted to our institution with a diagnosis of sexually acquired acute hepatitis B who also had underlying hyper acute HIV infection. Both individuals reported high rates of condomless sex. Antiviral therapy active against HBV and HIV was started within days after diagnosis.

HIV avidity index performance using a modified fourth-generation immunoassay to detect recent HIV infections.

Background: Detecting recent HIV infections is important to evaluate incidence and monitor epidemic trends. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance and accuracy of the avidity index (AI) for discriminating for recent HIV infections.

Methods: We collected serum samples from HIV-1 positive individuals: A) with known date of infection (midpoint in time between last HIV-negative and first HIV-positive test); B) infected for >1 year.

Pregnancy-related changes of antiretroviral pharmacokinetics: an argument for therapeutic drug monitoring.

Here we describe a case of an HIV-infected young woman with extensive drug-resistant virus, who was successfully switched from a raltegravir-based regimen to a dolutegravir-based intensified antiretroviral regimen a few days before scheduled caesarean section because of the still detectable viral load. The trough concentrations of all antiretroviral drugs before and after delivery are also described. Our case underlines both the difficult management of young women, HIV-infected at young age with very limited treatment options and the great variability in the pregnancy-related physiological changes affecting the pharmacokinetics of antiretrovirals.

Unexpected vertical transmission of HIV infection.

Mother-to-child transmission of HIV infection occurred in a child born from an HIV-infected mother with HIV-RNA undetectable during pregnancy. She was suffering from gastroenteritis in the last 3 weeks of gestation.

Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of pediatric gastroenteritis associated with new viral agents.

A 22-month study (2008-2009) was carried out on 273 patients (average age 40 months), admitted with gastroenteritis to the Pediatric Unit of L. Sacco University Hospital in Milan, Italy. Fecal samples were investigated for rotavirus (HRV), norovirus (NoV), adenovirus (AdV), sapovirus (SaV), enterovirus, astrovirus and bocavirus (HBoV).

Evaluation of the abbott LCx HIV-1 RNA quantitative, a new assay for quantitative determination of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 RNA.

A new quantitative reverse transcription (RT)-PCR assay for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA (Abbott LCx HIV RNA Quantitative assay) has been compared with the Organon NucliSens assay on 521 retrospective samples obtained from HIV-1-positive patients monitored during highly active antiretroviral therapy, 79 of whom were assayed also by the Chiron Quantiplex 3.0 system and on characterized panels. The LCx system showed a moderate correlation (r = 0.

Viral load, viral phenotype modification, zidovudine susceptibility and reverse transcriptase mutations during the first 6 months of zidovudine monotherapy in HIV-1-infected people.

We studied 14 zidovudine-naive, HIV-1-infected patients attending an infectious diseases clinic in Milan during zidovudine therapy for 6 months. We monitored CD4 cell counts, immune complex-dissociated p24 antigen, viral phenotype and viral load in plasma. The virus infecting a subset of patients was examined for zidovudine susceptibility and zidovudine resistance-associated mutations.

Epstein-Barr virus DNA in cerebrospinal fluid from patients with AIDS-related primary lymphoma of the central nervous system.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is constantly associated with AIDS-related primary lymphomas of the central nervous system (CNS). To assess whether EBV DNA in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) could be used as a tumour marker, CSF samples that had been taken within 180 days before death from 85 patients with HIV infection and neurological disorders at necropsy were examined retrospectively by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for EBV. Histologically evident primary CNS lymphomas were found in 17 patients, and EBV was shown in tissue by in-situ hybridisation in 16 of the 16 cases examined.

Cytomegalovirus infection of the central nervous system in patients with AIDS: diagnosis by DNA amplification from cerebrospinal fluid.

A nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was evaluated for the detection of cytomegalovirus (CMV) DNA in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). CSF and serum samples from 19 AIDS patients with intracerebral CMV infection diagnosed at autopsy were retrospectively examined. As controls, CSF and serum samples from 15 AIDS patients with only extracerebral CMV involvement at autopsy, from 10 AIDS patients without CMV infection at autopsy, and from 10 anti-human immunodeficiency virus-negative patients without ongoing CMV infection, were studied.

HIV 1 and HIV 2 prevalence of seropositivity in a population of West Africa.

In the month of August 1986, tests for anti-HIV 1 and anti-HIV 2 antibodies were performed in people coming to the hospital of Tanguietà (North Benin) (401 subjects) and in people working in the same hospital (23 subjects). The study revealed an anti-HIV 1 antibody prevalence of 0.4% (2/424) and an anti-HIV 2 prevalence of 0.

B and delta hepatitis virus infection in a population of west Africa.

Among the 424 serum samples examined, the prevalence of hepatitis virus infection turned out to be 89.6%, with 15.6% of HBsAg positivity.

Early diagnosis of HIV infection in infants.

Eighteen infants born to anti-HIV-positive mothers were tested bimonthly for immunoglobulin M (IgM) anti-HIV by Western blot and HIV p24 antigen (Ag) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in order to determine the role of these markers in the early diagnosis of HIV infection. Twelve healthy infants were also studied as a control group. In 11 out of 18 children (61.

[Antibodies against the 15 amino acid sequence 599-613 of HIV-1 glycoprotein 41 in subjects at risk of HIV infection].

A peptide (called A-15) composed of 15 amino acids of the gp41 (from position 599 to position 613 of the sequence encoded by the env gene) of HIV-1 has been used as an antigen to search for antibodies in 347 sera of at-risk for HIV-1 infection subjects. The purpose was of comparing the prevalence of these antibodies with that of HIV-1 total EIA antibodies and HIV-1 immunoblotting antibodies. Assuming immunoblotting test as reference test for detecting a HIV-1 infection, the antibodies against peptide A-15 show the same sensitivity and specificity when compared with other HIV-1 total EIA antibodies tests.