Article
Microbiology
Erik Sodersten, Stefano Ongarello, Anna Mantsoki, Romain Wyss, David H. Persing, Sara Banderby, Linda Stromqvist Meuzelaar, Jacqueline Prieto, Devasena Gnanashanmugam, Purvesh Khatri, Samuel G. Schumacher, Claudia M. Denkinger
Summary: This study evaluated the accuracy of an early-prototype cartridge assay for HIV patients and showed its potential value for triage and diagnosis in tuberculosis patients. The prototype showed promising results in discriminating TB from other illnesses and in comparison with other microbiological tests like Xpert MTB/RIF.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Belen Saavedra, Edson Mambuque, Neide Gomes, Dinis Nguenha, Rita Mabunda, Luis Faife, Ruben Langa, Shilzia Munguambe, Filomena Manjate, Anelsio Cossa, Lesley Scott, Alberto L. Garcia-Basteiro
Summary: This study evaluated the field use of Abbott RealTime MTB and Xpert MTB/RIF assays in Southern Mozambique among HIV-positive and TB presumptive cases. Results showed improved sensitivity but reduced specificity for the Abbott RT-MTB compared to the Xpert MTB/RIF.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jonny Alejandro Garcia Luna, Nelson Romero-Rosas, Sebastian Alejandro Silva Pena, Oscar Javier Oviedo Sarmiento, Ximena Galindo Orrego, William Lenis Quintero, Luisa Consuelo Perea, Ernesto Martinez Buitrago, Lyda Osorio, Juan Carlos Salazar, Adrian D. Smith, Neal Alexander
Summary: This study evaluated the performance of two commercially available rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for syphilis in people living with HIV (PLWH), and found that these RDTs have excellent performance for screening syphilis, with one of the tests performing better on serum samples than capillary blood samples.
Article
Infectious Diseases
Jill K. Gersh, Ruanne Barnabas, Daniel Matemo, John Kinuthia, Zachary Feldman, Sylvia M. Lacourse, Jerphason Mecha, Alex J. Warr, Maureen Kamene, David J. Horne
Summary: In Kenyan PLHIV treated with IPT, tuberculosis prevalence was low at a median of 1.4 years after IPT completion. WHO symptoms screening, Xpert, and candidate biomarkers were insensitive for identifying pulmonary tuberculosis in antiretroviral-treated PLHIV.
BMC INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2021)
Article
Immunology
Dickens Otieno Onyango, Marianne A. B. van der Sande, Courtney M. Yuen, Jerphason Mecha, Daniel Matemo, Elizabeth Oele, John Kinuthia, Grace John-Stewart, Sylvia M. LaCourse
Summary: Despite a high proportion of eligibility screening, timely initiation and completion of IPT were suboptimal among eligible pediatric HIV patients in this study. Targeted programmatic interventions are needed to address these drop-offs and improve the outcomes of the IPT cascade.
JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL AIDS SOCIETY
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Riyaz Ahamed Shaik, Sharan K. Holyachi, Mohammad S. Ahmad, Mohammed Miraj, Mansour Alzahrani, Ritu Kumar Ahmad, Bader A. Almehmadi, Mohammed Zaid Aljulifi, Meshari A. Alzahrani, Mashael B. Alharbi, Mohammed Muzammil Ahmed
Summary: This study examined the demographic, clinical, and survival characteristics of people living with HIV and found that age, sex, baseline CD4 count, and tuberculosis (TB) status are risk factors for mortality among people with HIV.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(2023)
Article
Immunology
April C. Pettit, Jason E. Stout, Robert Belknap, Constance A. Benson, Marie Nancy Seraphin, Michael Lauzardo, David J. Horne, Richard S. Garfein, Fernanda Maruri, Christine S. Ho
Summary: Among US-born PLWH, the prevalence of LTBI was low, and TSPOT showed higher specificity and PPV compared to QFT and TST, making it potentially more suitable for testing PLWH with low TB exposure risk and high CD4+ counts.
CLINICAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2021)
Review
Microbiology
Anca Vasiliu, Rebecca Abelman, Yousra Kherabi, Antonia Morita Iswari Saktiawati, Alexander Kay
Summary: This review explores TB screening tools and preventive treatment for people living with HIV and highlights policy-practice gaps and ongoing research needs.
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Inge Kroidl, Mohamed I. M. Ahmed, Sacha Horn, Christina Polyak, Allahna Esber, Ajay Parikh, Leigh Anne Eller, Hannah Kibuuka, Michael Semwogerere, Betty Mwesigwa, Prossy Naluyima, Joy Mary Kasumba, Jonah Maswai, John Owuoth, Valentine Sing'oei, Eric Rono, Rebecca Loose, Michael Hoelscher, Julie Ake, Christof Geldmacher
Summary: This study assessed TB disease activity in HIV-infected individuals co-infected with MTB and found that MTB-specific T-cell activation can differentiate active TB from latent TB and can also be detected in incipient TB cases. The findings suggest that blood biomarkers, such as MTB-specific T-cell activation, can aid in the early detection of TB and improve clinical outcomes by reducing transmission.
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Rena C. Patel, Gustavo Amorim, Beatrice Jakait, Bryan E. Shepherd, A. Rain Mocello, Beverly Musick, Caitlin Bernard, Maricianah Onono, Elizabeth A. Bukusi, Kara Wools-Kaloustian, Craig R. Cohen, Constantin T. Yiannoutsos
Summary: The study found that concurrent use of efavirenz-containing antiretroviral therapy and contraceptive implants leads to higher pregnancy rates among women living with HIV, although rates were similar to alternative contraceptive methods such as DMPA. This data provides policymakers, program staff, and WLHIV with greater confidence to make decisions regarding contraceptive and ART options. The novel validation method used in the study offers an innovative tool for improving the robustness of data quality when using routine EMR data.
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Tom Sumner, Simon C. Mendelsohn, Thomas J. Scriba, Mark Hatherill, Richard G. White
Summary: Using annual RISK11 screening with preventive therapy for positive cases may prevent 26% more cases over 10 years among PLHIV compared to universal treatment. The cost of the RISK11 test should be no more than 10% of preventive therapy costs, with the greatest benefit potentially seen in PLHIV on ART.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Afkera K. Daniel, Shari L. Dworkin, Annie McDonough, Abigail M. Hatcher, Rachel L. Burger, Elly Weke, Pauline Wekesa, Elizabeth A. Bukusi, George Owino, Gladys Odhiambo, Harsha Thirumurthy, Monica Getahun, Sheri D. Weiser, Craig R. Cohen
Summary: This study examines the impact of land access on health and women's participation in livelihood interventions. The findings highlight the importance of secure land tenure for agricultural productivity, investments, and benefits. Additionally, the unique challenges faced by women regarding land tenure negatively affect their involvement and success in intervention programs.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Sagar Dommaraju, Jill Hagey, Thomas A. Odeny, Sharon Okaka, Julie Kadima, Elizabeth A. Bukusi, Craig R. Cohen, Zachary Kwena, Ingrid Eshun-Wilson, Elvin Geng, Matthew Quaife, Matthew Quaife, D. M. Basavarajaiah, D. M. Basavarajaiah, D. M. Basavarajaiah
Summary: A study in Kenya found that stable HIV patients prefer receiving care at health facilities, from clinicians and pharmacists, with individual support systems, and longer intervals between clinical visits and ART collections. These insights can help prioritize the use of different DSD models in the region to better align with patient preferences.
Review
Medicine, General & Internal
Simon C. Mendelsohn, Humphrey Mulenga, Stanley Kimbung Mbandi, Fatoumatta Darboe, Mary Shelton, Thomas J. Scriba, Mark Hatherill
Summary: Current tuberculosis triage and predictive tools have poor accuracy in detecting asymptomatic disease in people living with HIV. Host tuberculosis transcriptomic biomarkers show promise for diagnosing and predicting tuberculosis, guiding further investigation, preventive therapy and follow-up. This systematic review aims to evaluate the performance of transcriptomic signatures of tuberculosis in people living with HIV.
Review
Cell Biology
Jia Mei Hong, Hyeyoung Lee, Nishanth Menon, Chwee Teck Lim, Luke P. Lee, Catherine W. M. Ong
Summary: This review evaluates the current diagnostic assays endorsed by the World Health Organization for tuberculosis and discusses the development of rapid tests and microfluidics technology.
SCIENCE TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ian E. Fellows, Ray W. Shiraishi, Peter Cherutich, Thomas Achia, Peter W. Young, Andrea A. Kim
Article
Hematology
Udhayashankar Kanagasabai, Dejana Selenic, Michelle S. Chevalier, Bakary Drammeh, Michael Qualls, Ray W. Shiraishi, Naomi Bock, Irene Benech, Fatima D. Mili
Summary: The Global Database on Blood Safety (GDBS) is a unique and useful global activity that provides important data on the safety of blood transfusion services. While GDBS has met many of the requirements for surveillance systems, there is still room for improvement in aspects such as timeliness of reporting and enhancing the national blood information systems of WHO Member States.
Article
Hematology
Fatima D. Mili, Yu Teng, Ray W. Shiraishi, Junping Yu, Naomi Bock, Bakary Drammeh, D. Heather Watts, Irene Benech
Summary: The study found that standardized HIV testing of donated blood in countries supported by PEPFAR has significantly reduced the risk of HIV transmission through blood transfusions.
Article
Pediatrics
Rinn Song, Eleanor S. Click, Kimberly D. McCarthy, Charles M. Heilig, Walter Mchembere, Jonathan P. Smith, Mark Fajans, Susan K. Musau, Elisha Okeyo, Albert Okumu, James Orwa, Dickson Gethi, Lazarus Odeny, Scott H. Lee, Carlos M. Perez-Velez, Colleen A. Wright, Kevin P. Cain
Summary: The study aimed to find the optimal diagnostic approach for tuberculosis in children under 5 in resource-limited settings. Combining minimally invasive specimens and assays, such as duplicate NPA or in combination with stool or urine samples, showed diagnostic yield comparable to reference-standard specimens.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Michael Melgar, Ray W. Shiraishi, Clifford Tende, Sydney Mwanza, Joyce Mulenga, Shepherd Khondowe, David Mwakazanga, Kelvin Kapungu, Mathias Tembo, Amos Nota, Patrick Lungu, Brittany Moore, Laura J. Podewils
Summary: The study in two provinces with the highest tuberculosis burden in Zambia found a low initiation rate of TPT among people living with HIV, attributed to inconsistent tuberculosis screening, lack of TPT training for healthcare workers, and supply chain inefficiencies. Addressing these challenges could increase TPT initiations and improve outcomes for people living with HIV.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Scott A. Nabity, Laurence J. Gunde, Diya Surie, Ray W. Shiraishi, Hannah L. Kirking, Alice Maida, Andrew F. Auld, Michael Odo, Andreas Jahn, Rose K. Nyirenda, John E. Oeltmann
Summary: This study found that early-phase IPT uptake among adults at ART centers in Malawi was high, but child uptake needed improvement. National programs could adapt this framework to evaluate their ICF-IPT care cascades.
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Nigel A. Scott, Kara K. Lee, Claire Sadowski, Ekaterina Kurbatova, Stefan Goldberg, Pheona Nsubuga, Rene Kitshoff, Colleen Whitelaw, Hanh Nguyen Thuy, Kumar Batra, Cynthia Allen-Blige, Howard Davis, Jay Kim, Mimi Phan, Pamela Fedrick, Kuo Wei Chiu, Charles M. Heilig, Erin Sizemore
Summary: Efficient drug inventory management is crucial for multisite clinical trials, and a new web-based solution showed a 15.4% reduction in drug stock-outs compared to manual processes. The DMM streamlined restocking processes and reduced transit times at study sites. Improved procedures provided by the DMM framework can enhance efficiency in future multicenter trials.
CONTEMPORARY CLINICAL TRIALS
(2021)
Article
Immunology
Jeffrey W. Eaton, Laura Dwyer-Lindgren, Steve Gutreuter, Megan O'Driscoll, Oliver Stevens, Sumali Bajaj, Rob Ashton, Alexandra Hill, Emma Russell, Rachel Esra, Nicolas Dolan, Yusuf O. Anifowoshe, Mark Woodbridge, Ian Fellows, Robert Glaubius, Emily Haeuser, Taylor Okonek, John Stover, Matthew L. Thomas, Jon Wakefield, Timothy M. Wolock, Jonathan Berry, Tomasz Sabala, Nathan Heard, Stephen Delgado, Andreas Jahn, Thokozani Kalua, Tiwonge Chimpandule, Andrew Auld, Evelyn Kim, Danielle Payne, Leigh F. Johnson, Richard G. FitzJohn, Ian Wanyeki, Mary Mahy, Ray W. Shiraishi
Summary: The Naomi model integrates multiple subnational data sources to provide estimates for key indicators for HIV planning, resource allocation, and target setting. Example results from Malawi during 2016-2018 show varying HIV prevalence rates across districts, while ART coverage is relatively uniform.
JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL AIDS SOCIETY
(2021)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Andrew F. Auld, Andrew D. Kerkhoff, Yasmeen Hanifa, Robin Wood, Salome Charalambous, Yuliang Liu, Tefera Agizew, Anikie Mathoma, Rosanna Boyd, Anand Date, Ray W. Shiraishi, George Bicego, Unami Mathebula-Modongo, Heather Alexander, Christopher Serumola, Goabaone Rankgoane-Pono, Pontsho Pono, Alyssa Finlay, James C. Shepherd, Tedd Ellerbrock, Alison D. Grant, Katherine Fielding
Summary: The study demonstrated the feasibility of developing a simple clinical scoring model to predict active TB, providing more accurate screening and diagnosis for HIV patients, to improve sensitivity and negative predictive value. The risk stratification by the clinical score allows for flexibility in designing differentiated HIV-TB care to maximize the impact of available resources.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Hannah E. Reses, Mark Fajans, Scott H. Lee, Charles M. Heilig, Victoria T. Chu, Natalie J. Thornburg, Kim Christensen, Sanjib Bhattacharyya, Alicia Fry, Aron J. Hall, Jacqueline E. Tate, Hannah L. Kirking, Scott A. Nabity
Summary: The study evaluated the diagnostic performance of COVID-19 case definitions for household contacts, finding existing definitions to have high sensitivity but low positive predictive value, with new symptom combinations including taste or smell dysfunction showing potential for improved accuracy, and performance indicators generally lower for children.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Sandy P. Althomsons, Kathryn Winglee, Charles M. Heilig, Sarah Talarico, Benjamin Silk, Jonathan Wortham, Andrew N. Hill, Thomas R. Navin
Summary: This study demonstrates the use of surveillance data, statistical definitions, and machine learning to predict clusters of tuberculosis cases that are likely to grow and become outbreaks, providing an opportunity for intervention and prevention.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Scott Lee, Olivia Almendares, Jessica Prince-Guerra, Mark Anderson, Charles M. Heilig, Jacqueline E. Tate, Hannah L. Kirking
Summary: This study aims to improve the sensitivity of antigen tests by combining antigen test results with other relevant information, such as exposure status and reported symptoms. The analysis resulted in six novel multisymptom case definitions, which showed better performance in predicting RT-PCR positivity compared to antigen testing alone.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Medical Informatics
Karen K. Wong, Charles M. Heilig, Anne Hause, Tanya R. Myers, Christine K. Olson, Julianne Gee, Paige Marquez, Penelope Strid, David K. Shay
Summary: Reports of menstrual irregularities and vaginal bleeding after COVID-19 vaccination are being submitted to a voluntary active surveillance system. The relationship between these symptoms and the vaccine is yet to be determined.
LANCET DIGITAL HEALTH
(2022)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Andrew F. Auld, Katherine Fielding, Tefera Agizew, Alice Maida, Anikie Mathoma, Rosanna Boyd, Anand Date, Sherri L. Pals, George Bicego, Yuliang Liu, Ray W. Shiraishi, Peter Ehrenkranz, Christopher Serumola, Unami Mathebula, Heather Alexander, Salome Charalambous, Courtney Emerson, Goabaone Rankgoane-Pono, Pontsho Pono, Alyssa Finlay, James C. Shepherd, Charles Holmes, Tedd V. Ellerbrock, Alison D. Grant
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Udhayashankar Kanagasabai, Adarshpal Singh, Ray W. Shiraishi, Vanthy Ly, Chhaily Hy, Sou Sanith, Sok Srun, Sim Sansam, S. Teak SopHeap, Yuliang Liu, Gerald Jones, Ugonna C. Ijeoma, Naomi Bock, Irene Benech, Dejana Selenic, Bakary Drammah, Renuka Gadde, Fatima D. Mili