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Since the release of initial CDC guidelines in 2005 for using the Quanti-FERON-TB Gold test, two additional interferon gamma-release assays (IGRAs) have been approved by the FDA, bringing the number of tests for detecting tuberculosis (TB) infection used in the United States to four.
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A prospective, population-based cohort study was conducted from 2002-2006 in the Netherlands of 4,164 children during the first year of life, and included questionnaires and physician-confirmed infections of the upper respiratory tract (URT), lower respiratory tract (LRT), and gastrointestinal tract (GI).
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Data for 64 HIV/HCV co-infected patients treated in a prospective study of pegylated IFN alpha + RBV were analyzed. IFN was administered at 180 mcg SQ/week and RBV was dosed at 800 mg daily for patients with HCV genotype 2 or 3 and 1,000-1,200 mg/day for the first 12 weeks in patients with genotype 1 or 4, then reduced to 800 mg/day until completion of therapy.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which erred on the side of caution and consternation for infection preventionists during the flu pandemic now concedes surgical masks are sufficient to protect health care workers against H1N1 influenza A. Draft guidelines for seasonal influenza downgrade the controversial recommendation to wear N95 respirators.
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In a discussion that goes well beyond the implied semantics of a simple name change, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) continues to try to define its "brand" in a rapidly changing marketplace.
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Hospitals that adopt advanced computer technology to identify healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are more likely to have implemented best practices to prevent such infections, according to research presented recently in New Orleans at the annual conference of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).
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Editor's note: As this issue of AIDS Alert was going to press, the White House released its National HIV/AIDS Strategy. The is summarized as follows. Look to future issues of AIDS Alert for analysis and updates on plan.
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Researchers studied the nature of the HIV epidemic in Maryland to show in one microcosm of the U.S. epidemic that different populations of at-risk individuals have different sub-types of the virus and will need to be handled differently.
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As HIV researchers, clinicians, and public health officials continue to wait for an evidence-based biomedical prevention intervention, there remains a need for proven HIV prevention interventions targeting adolescents and young adults.
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HIV clinicians are seeing growing numbers of teenagers and adults under age 25 among new HIV infection cases. It's a phenomenon that has researchers and public health officials scrambling to develop biomedical HIV prevention interventions specifically for youth.
