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OBJECTIVE. The goal was to determine incidence, determinants, and morbidity and mortality rates of neonatal herpes simplex virus infections in Canada. METHODS. From October 1, 2000, to September 30, 2003, reports of neonatal herpes simplex virus infection were solicited actively from all Canadian pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists on a monthly basis. RESULTS. Fifty-eight cases of neonatal herpes simplex virus were reported (5.9 cases per 100 000 live births). Cesarean section was performed in 24.6% of cases, 28.1% of patients were born prematurely, 28.6% had birth weights of CONCLUSIONS. This is the first study to examine the national incidence of neonatal herpes simplex virus in Canada. Many women had no genital herpes simplex virus history before delivery, and the majority of cases were herpes simplex virus-1, which has implications for prenatal screening and vaccine/drug development. Follow-up monitoring of case subjects is being performed annually for 3 years, to be completed in October 2006. Key Words neonatal herpes simplex infection, herpes simplex virus, vertical transmission Abbreviations NHSV--neonatal herpes simplex virus HSV-- herpes simplex virus CNS-- central nervous system CSP--Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program PCR--polymerase chain reaction, GENITAL HERPES SIMPLEX virus (HSV) is one of the most incident and prevalent sexually transmitted infections in the world; however, because genital HSV infections frequently are asymptomatic, HSV is underdiagnosed. [...]

Whereas the infant gut microbiome is the subject of intense study, relatively little is known regarding the nares microbiome in newborns and during early life. This study aimed to survey the typical composition and diversity of human anterior nare microflora for developing infants over time, and to explore how these correlate to their primary caregivers. Single nare swabs were collected at five time points over a one-year period for each subject from infant-caregiver pairs. Our study comprised of 50 infants (recruited at 2 weeks, post delivery) and their 50 primary caregivers. Applying the chaperonin-60 (cpn60) universal target (UT) amplicon as our molecular barcoding marker to census survey the microbial communities, we longitudinally surveyed infant nares microbiota at 5 time points over the course of the first year of life. The inter- and intra-subject diversity was catalogued and compared, both longitudinally and relative to their adult primary caregivers. Although within-subject variability over time and inter-subject variability were both observed, the assessment detected only one or two predominant genera for individual infant samples, belonging mainly to phyla Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria. Consistent with previously observed microbial population dynamics in other body sites, the diversity of nares microflora increased over the first year of life and infants showed differential operational taxonomic units (OTUs) relative to their matched primary caregiver. The collected evidence also support that both temporal and seasonal changes occur with respect to carriage of potentially pathogenic bacteria (PPBs), which may influence host predisposition to infection. This pilot study surveying paired infant/caregiver nare microbiomes provides novel longitudinal diversity information that is pertinent to better understanding nare microbiome development in infants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many factors can influence the rate of HIV disease progression, including those that maintain T cell homeostasis. One key homeostatic regulator is the IL-7 receptor (IL-7R). Previous studies have shown IL-7R expression levels decrease in HIV infection, but effects on memory subtypes, CD4 T cells, and cell function have not been explored. The present study examined the expression of the IL-7Rα chain on naïve and memory T lymphocyte subsets of both HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals from Nairobi, Kenya to assess the role of IL-7Rα in HIV disease. Expression of IL-7Rα was significantly reduced in all CD4 and CD8 T cell subsets in HIV-positive individuals. This reduction was further enhanced in those with advanced HIV progression. Expression of IL-7Rα was inversely correlated to immune activation, and apoptosis, and was positively correlated with CD4 count in both bivariate and multivariate analysis. Expression of IL-7Rα did not correlate with HIV viral loads, indicating the elevated immune activation seen in HIV-infected individuals may be impacting expression of IL-7Rα, independent of viral loads. Signaling via the IL-7R is essential for T cell homeostasis and maintenance of T cell memory. Reduction of this receptor may contribute to the homeostatic disruption seen in HIV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluates prostaglandin F2alpha (PGF2alpha) output at fetal membrane surfaces relative to labor and to assess amniotic PGE2 concentration changes on PGF2alpha output. Higher concentration of PGF2alpha at the maternal surface of fetal membranes; Role of findings in the induction or maintenance of myometrial contractions associated with term labor.

APOBEC3G is an important innate immune molecule that causes human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) hypermutation, which can result in detrimental viral genome mutations. The Vif protein of wild-type HIV-1 counteracts APOBEC3G activity by targeting it for degradation and inhibiting its incorporation into viral particles. Additional APOBEC cytidine deaminases have been identified, such as APOBEC3F, which has a similar mode of action but different sequence specificity. A relationship between APOBEC3F/G and HIV disease progression has been proposed. During HIV-1 sequence analysis of the vpu/env region of 240 HIV-infected subjects from Nairobi, Kenya, 13 drastically hypermutated proviral sequences were identified. Sequences derived from plasma virus, however, lacked hypermutation, as did proviral vif. When correlates of disease progression were examined, subjects with hypermutated provirus were found to have significantly higher CD4 counts than the other subjects. Furthermore, hypermutation as estimated by elevated adenine content positively correlated with CD4 count for all 240 study subjects. The sequence context of the observed hypermutation was statistically associated with APOBEC3F/G activity. In contrast to previous studies, this study demonstrates that higher CD4 counts correlate with increased hypermutation in the absence of obvious mutations in the APOBEC inhibiting Vif protein. This strongly suggests that host factors, such as APOBEC3F/G, are playing a protective role in these patients, modulating viral hypermutation and host disease progression. These findings support the potential of targeting APOBEC3F/G for therapeutic purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]