Journal of Infectious Diseases

BACKGROUND: Despite high hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment rates, HCV incidence among HIV-positive men who have sex with men (HIV+ MSM) in Germany rose prior to HCV direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). We model what intervention can achieve the World Health Organization (WHO) elimination target of 80% incidence reduction by 2030 among HIV+ MSM in Berlin. METHODS: An HCV transmission model among HIV-diagnosed MSM was calibrated to Berlin (rising HCV incidence and high HCV testing/treatment)...

BACKGROUND: Monoclonal antibodies can mediate protection against Ebola virus (EBOV) infection through direct neutralization as well as through the recruitment of innate immune effector functions. However, the antibody functional response following survival of acute EBOV disease has not been well characterized. METHODS: Serum antibodies from EVD survivors from Sierra Leone were profiled to capture variation in overall subclass/isotype abundance, neutralizing activity, and innate immune effector functions...

HLA-I associated HIV adaptation is known to negatively impact disease progression and CD8 T-cell responses. We aimed to assess how HLA-I associated adaptation impacts HIV vaccine-induced CD8 T-cell responses in two past vaccine efficacy trials. We found that vaccine-encoded adapted epitopes were less immunogenic than vaccine-encoded non-adapted epitopes, and adapted epitope-specific responses were less polyfunctional than non-adapted epitope-specific responses. Along those lines, vaccine recipients with higher HLA-I adaptation to the Gag vaccine insert mounted less polyfunctional CD8 T-cell responses at the protein-level...

BACKGROUND: Early clearance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the eradication of infection before an adaptive immune response develops. We aimed to identify host factors associated with early clearance. METHODS: Indonesian household contacts patients with smear-positive tuberculosis (TB) had an interferon-γ release assay (IGRA) at baseline and 14 weeks later. Early clearance was defined as a persistently negative IGRA. Contact characteristics, exposure, and disease phenotype were assessed for association with a positive IGRA at each time point...

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BACKGROUND: Vaginal candidiasis is common disease affecting women; however, how C. albicans shift from commensalism towards a pathogenic status remains poorly understood. The present study investigated the vaginal epithelial cell (EC) response dynamics under various conditions. METHODS: Healthy women, asymptomatic C. albicans carriers, and symptomatic patients with vaginal candidiasis were enrolled in this study. ECs in the vaginal swabs were analyzed with cytofluorimetric analysis for pattern recognition receptors and intracellular signals, with LDH performed for cell damage and an ELISA for cytokine expression...

BACKGROUND: The plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT), which measures a subset of immunoglobulin antibodies (Ig) (functional neutralizing antibodies), and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), which measures total Ig (neutralizing and non-neutralizing antibodies), characterize different aspects of the anti-mumps virus antibody response after vaccination. METHODS: Data from a recent phase 3 clinical trial (NCT01681992) of two different measles-mumps-rubella vaccines were used to compare anti-mumps antibody responses measured using GSK's unenhanced PRNT (seropositivity cut-off, 2...

PURPOSE: To evaluate the relationship of lipocalin-2 to inflammation and cardiac injury with increased aldosterone in HIV. METHODS: A standardized 6-day low sodium diet was used to stimulate RAAS activation, and serum lipocalin-2 and biomarkers of inflammation and cardiac stretch were assessed among persons with and without HIV. RESULTS: Lipocalin-2 (71.3[59.2,99.7] vs. 67.0[51.8,86.3]ng/mL, P=.01) increased with RAAS activation vs. suppression in the HIV group...

BACKGROUND: Studies have found that the high-dose influenza vaccine has higher relative vaccine effectiveness (RVE) compared to standard-dose vaccines in some seasons. We evaluated the effect of age on the high-dose versus standard-dose RVE among Medicare beneficiaries. METHODS: A six-season retrospective cohort study from 2012 to 2018 among Medicare beneficiaries ages ≥65 years. Poisson regression was used to evaluate the effect of age on high-dose versus standard-dose RVE in preventing influenza hospitalizations...

INTRODUCTION: Two doses of influenza vaccination are recommended for previously unvaccinated children aged <9 years, and receipt of one dose is sometimes termed "partial vaccination". We assessed the vaccine effectiveness (VE) against influenza hospitalization of partial and full influenza vaccination among children in Hong Kong. METHODS: Using the test-negative design we enrolled 23,187 children aged <9 years admitted to hospitals with acute respiratory illness between September 2011 through to March 2019...

Enterococci have emerged as important nosocomial pathogens due to their resistance against the most commonly used antibiotics. Alternative treatments or prevention options are aimed at polysaccharides and surface-related proteins that play important roles in pathogenesis. Previously, we have shown that two Enterococcus faecium proteins, the secreted antigen A and the peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase, as well as the Enterococcus faecalis polysaccharide diheteroglycan are able to induce opsonic and cross-protective antibodies...

BACKGROUND: While bacterial vaginosis has been associated with an increased risk of Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) acquisition, it is unknown if other characteristics of the vaginal microbiota, including the presence of key bacterial species, impact a woman's risk of TV. METHODS: The pre-TV infection vaginal microbiota of 25 unique episodes of TV were compared to 50 controls who remained uninfected. Trichomonas vaginalis was detected by transcription mediated amplification...

BACKGROUND: Streptococcus suis is an emerging zoonotic agent. Its natural habitat is the tonsils, which are the main portals of S. suis entry into the bloodstream of pigs. The remarkable variability of the bacteria and complex pathogenic mechanisms make the development of a vaccine a difficult task. METHOD: Five conserved virulence factors involved in critical events of S. suis pathogenesis were combined and used as an intranasal vaccine (V5). The effect of V5 was investigated with intranasal and systemic challenge models...

Therapy to enhance host immune defenses may improve outcomes in serious infections, especially for antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Recombinant human plasma gelsolin (rhu-pGSN), a normally circulating protein, has beneficial effects in diverse pre-clinical models of inflammation and injury. We evaluated delayed therapy (24-48h post-challenge) with rhu-pGSN in a mouse model of pneumococcal pneumonia. Rhu-pGSN without antibiotics increased survival and reduced morbidity and weight loss after infection with either penicillin-sensitive or resistant pneumococci (serotypes 3 and 14, respectively)...

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No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Adenosine is a potent immunoregulatory nucleoside produced during inflammatory states to limit tissue damage. We hypothesized that dipyridamole, which inhibits cellular adenosine uptake, could raise the extracellular adenosine concentration and dampen chronic HIV-1 associated inflammation. METHODS: Virally-suppressed participants on antiretroviral therapy were randomized 1:1 for 12 weeks of dipyridamole 100mg 4x/day vs placebo capsules. All participants took open-label dipyridamole during weeks 12 to 24...

BACKGROUND: Immune responses to influenza vaccination can be weaker in older adults than in other age groups. We hypothesized that antibody responses would be particularly weak among repeat vaccinees when the current and prior season vaccine components are the same. METHODS: An observational study was conducted among 827 older adults aged ≥75 years in Hong Kong. Sera were collected immediately before and one month after receipt of the 2015/16 quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccine...

BACKGROUND: Measles morbidity and mortality are greatest in children <12 months old, with increased susceptibility in HIV-exposed children. We evaluated the immunogenicity and safety of an early 2-dose measles vaccine regimen administered at 6 and 12 months of age in South Africa. METHODS: HIV-unexposed (n=212) and HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) (n=71) children received measles vaccination (CAM-70) at 6 and 12 months of age. Measles immunoglobulin G titers were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay before and one month after each vaccine dose...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.