Search

Objectives: In a context of COVID-19 vaccine shortages, this study sought to evaluate the safety and efficacy of receiving one dose of Gam-COVID-Vac rAd26 followed by a second COVID-19 vaccine dose of either Gam-COVID-Vac rAd5, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 or BBIBP-CorV in a cohort of older adults., Study Design: Single-centre, randomised, open label, non-inferiority trial., Methods: Adults aged ≥65 years who had received one dose of Gam-COVID-Vac rAd26 were randomised in a 1:1:1 ratio to receive a second-dose COVID-19 vaccination of either Gam-COVID-Vac rAd5, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 or BBIBP-CorV. The primary outcome was the assessment of the humoral immune response to vaccination (i.e. antibody titres of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein at 28 days after second-dose vaccination). In addition, neutralising antibody titres at day 28 for the three schedules were measured., Results: Of 85 participants who were enrolled in the study between 26 and July 30, 2021, 31 individuals were randomised to receive Gam-COVID-Vac rAd5, 27 to ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and 27 to BBIBP-CorV. The mean age of participants was 68.2 years (SD 2.9) and 49 (57.6%) were female. Participants who received Gam-COVID-Vac rAd5 and ChAdOx1 nCoV1-19 showed significantly increased anti-S titres at 28 days after second-dose vaccination, but this magnitude of difference was not observed for those who received BBIBP-CorV. The ratio between the geometric mean at day 28 and baseline within each group was 11.8 (6.98-19.89) among patients assigned to Gam-COVID-Vac rAd26/rAd5, 4.81 (2.14-10.81) for the rAd26/ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group and 1.53 (0.74-3.20) for the rAd26/BBIBP-CorV group. All of the schedules were shown to be safe., Conclusions: The findings in this study contribute to the scarce information published on the safety and immunogenicity of Gam-COVID-Vac heterologous regimens and will help the development of guidelines and vaccine programme management., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Royal Society for Public Health.)

Cardiovascular risk is increased in HIV-infected patients and has become a leading cause of morbi-mortality in this population. The purpose of this study is to compare HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) and ART-naïve HIV-infected patients regarding arterial elasticity. From September 2010 to September 2015, 105 HIV-infected subjects were enrolled, 41 ART-naïve and 64 on ART with stable viral suppression. Elasticity of large and small arteries (LAE and SAE) was assessed by analysis of radial pulse waveforms using a calibrated device. A single set of measurements was performed. Multivariate linear regression models were constructed to estimate independent correlates of arterial elasticity. On-ART and ART-naïve patients were similar with respect to gender, age, body mass index, Framingham cardiovascular risk score, smoking habits, and CD4+ counts. Median time on treatment was 60 months and 79% of patients were on regimens based on non-nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitors. No significant differences in LAE and SAE assessments were found between groups. However, time on ART and cholesterol levels were independently associated with LAE impairment. No association between arterial elasticity and CD4+ counts was found. We conclude that cumulative exposure to ART may play a role on LAE impairment and deserves further investigation.

Recent findings from the START Trial provided evidence that early initiation of antiretroviral treatment should be implemented as the global standard of care. However, a large proportion of patients are still being diagnosed in late stages. Our objective was to evaluate the temporal trend in the CD4+ cell count at diagnosis during a 13 year period and the factors associated with late HIV diagnosis in asymptomatic individuals tested in the Centre for Prevention, Counselling and Diagnosis of our hospital. It was a retrospective study including all asymptomatic patients with new diagnosis of HIV infection. Very late presenters (VLP) were defined as those with CD4+ counts < 200 and late presenters (LP) with CD4+ < 350 cell/mm3. We also evaluated the proportion of patients diagnosed with CD4+ cell counts below 500 cell/mm3. Between January 2002 and December 2014, 20 263 patients were tested for HIV, 1104 with a positive result of whom 995 asymptomatic individuals were included. Overall, median CD4+ count was 372 cells/mm3 and HIV-RNA 31 145 copies/ml. There was no evidence that the CD4+ count at diagnosis progressively increased over time, nor that the proportion of VLP and LP decreased. In a multivariate model older age, heterosexual transmission and intravenous drug use remained as independent factors associated with LP. In conclusion, late diagnosis of HIV infection remains prevalent among asymptomatic patients, highlighting the need to continue implementing strategies towards early diagnosis.

Saint Louis encephalitis virus (SLE) is a mosquito borne disease. Only a small proportion of cases progress to severe clinical forms. There have been few reports on HIV-infected patients and the relationship between immunodeficiency and the course of the disease remains unclear. Herein we describe two cases of SLE in HIV-1-infected patients in Buenos Aires city.