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Most people living with HIV need antiretroviral therapy to control their infection and experience viral relapse in case of treatment interruption, because of viral reservoir (proviruses) persistence. Knowing that proviruses are very diverse and most of them are defective in treated individuals, we aimed to characterize the HIV blood reservoirs of posttreatment controllers (PTCs), rare models of drug-free remission, in comparison with spontaneous controllers and treated individuals.

AIMS Polypharmacy increase the risk of drug-drug interactions (DDIs) in the elderly population living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Several expert databases can be used to evaluate DDIs. The aim of the study was to describe actual DDIs between antiretroviral drugs and comedications in an elderly population and to compare grading of the DDIs in 3 databases. METHODS All treatments of HIV-infected subjects aged 65 years and older were collected in 6 French HIV centres. Summary of Product Characteristic (SPC), French DDI Thesaurus (THES), and Liverpool HIV DDI website (LIV) were used to define each DDI and specific grade. DDIs were classified in yellow flag interaction (undefined grade in SPC and THES or potential weak interaction in LIV), amber flag interaction (to be considered/precaution of use in SPC and THES and potential interaction in LIV) and red flag interaction (not recommended/contraindication in SPC and THES and do not administer/contraindication in LIV). RESULTS Among 239 subjects included, 60 (25.1%) had at least 1 DDI for a total of 126 DDIs: 23/126 red flag DDIs were identified in 17 patients. All these 23 DDIs were identified in LIV. THES and SPC missed 6 and 1 red flag DDIs, respectively. Seven of 23 red flag DDIs were identified in the 3 databases concomitantly. CONCLUSION Polypharmacy is frequent in this elderly HIV population leading to DDI in a quarter of the subjects. The discrepancies between databases can be explained by differences in analysis methods. A consensus between databases would be helpful for clinicians.

Widespread use of the measles vaccine should lead to the elimination of this disease. Here, we study the seroprevalence of measles in a cohort of adults living with HIV born after the introduction of measles vaccine in France and attempt to identify risk factors for the absence of serum measles antibody.In this multi-centre cross-sectional study, adult outpatients born after 1980 were screened for the presence of measles IgG antibody. Demographic and clinical data were obtained from the standardized electronic medical record system. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were performed to identify factors associated with the absence of measles antibodies.Between April 2019 and April 2020, 648 participants were enrolled. The median age was 33 years, 53.6% were born outside of France, and 74% were considered as socially deprived. Plasma HIV RNA was undetectable in 86% of patients. Among 603 evaluable patients, measles serology was positive in 87.2%. Only 81.8% of the patients with documented vaccination tested positive for measles IgG. Younger age was significantly associated with the absence of measles serum antibodies ( P = 0.004 for each 10-year lower), as was birth in France ( P 0.001) and absence of social vulnerability ( P = 0.04).The current study revealed a low seroprevalence of measles compared with that previously reported in France 6 years earlier and to the expected rate to achieve herd immunity. Checking vaccination record should be systematically carried out in patients living with HIV to fill the immunity gaps.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of corticosteroids on outcomes of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia requiring oxygen without mechanical ventilation. METHODS: We used routine care data from 51 hospitals in France and Luxembourg to assess the effectiveness of corticosteroids at 0.8 mg/kg/day eq. prednisone (CTC group) versus standard of care (no-CTC group) among adults 18 to 80 years old with confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia requiring oxygen without mechanical ventilation. The primary outcome was intubation or death by day 28. In our main analysis, characteristics of patients at baseline (i.e., time when patients met all inclusion criteria) were balanced by using propensity-score inverse probability of treatment weighting. RESULTS: Among the 891 patients included in the analysis, 203 were assigned to the CTC group. Use of corticosteroids was not significantly associated with risk of intubation or death by day 28 (weighted hazard ratio [wHR] 0.92, 95% CI 0.61 to 1.39) or cumulative death rate (wHR 1.03, 95% CI 0.54 to 1.98). However, use of corticosteroids was associated with reduced risk of intubation or death by day 28 in the prespecified subgroups of patients requiring oxygen ≥ 3 L/min (wHR 0.50, 95% CI 0.30 to 0.85) or C-reactive protein level ≥ 100 mg/L (wHR 0.44, 95%CI 0.23 to 0.85). Number of hyperglycaemia events was higher for patients with than without corticosteroids, but number of infections was similar. CONCLUSIONS: We found no association between the use of corticosteroids and intubation or death in the broad population of patients 18 to 80 years old with COVID-19 hospitalized in non-intensive care unit settings. However, the treatment was associated with reduced risk of intubation or death for patients with ≥ 3 L/min oxygen or C-reactive protein level ≥ 100 mg/L at baseline. Further research need to confirm the right timing of corticosteroids for patients with COVID-19 requiring oxygen only.

International audience; Introduction: Previous studies have reported better immunovirological characteristics in women compared with men after HIV seroconversion. We investigated whether differences persisted under long-term antiretroviral therapy (ART) in individuals treated since acute and early HIV-1 infection (AHI). Methods: Data were obtained for 262 women and 1783 men enrolled between 1996 and 2017 in the French multicentre ANRS PRIMO cohort. We modelled the viral response, long-term immune recovery and HIV DNA decay in the 143 women and 1126 men who initiated ART within the first three months of infection. Results: The participants were mostly white. The mean age was 37 years at AHI diagnosis. Pre-ART viral loads were lower in women than men, 5.2 and 5.6 log10 copies/mL (p = 0.001). After ART initiation, women more rapidly achieved viral suppression than men (adjusted hazard ratio: 1.33, 95% confidence interval 1.09 to 1.69). They also experienced a faster increase in CD4+ T-cell count and CD4:CD8 ratio during the first months of treatment. Sex-related differences in CD4+ T-cell counts were more pronounced with increasing age. This led to a sustained mean difference of 99 to 168 CD4+ T-cells/µL depending on age between women and men at 150 months of ART. Moreover, CD4:CD8 ratio of women was higher than that of men by 0.31, at 150 months of ART. There was no statistically significant difference between sexes for the levels of HIV DNA over time (mean estimate at the last modelling point: 1.9 log10 copies/106 PBMCs after 70 months of ART for both sexes). Conclusions: The high level of immune recovery and decrease in total HIV DNA levels achieved after ART initiation during AHI reinforce the importance of early diagnosis of HIV infection and immediate ART initiation. The immunological benefit of being female increased throughout prolonged ART duration, which may give women additional protection from adverse clinical events and premature ageing.

Introduction : Le VIH fait partie des maladies chroniques pour lesquelles il serait interessant de connaitre les besoins et attentes des patients dans le domaine biomedical mais aussi dans leurs dimensions psychosociale, affective et professionnelle, afin de pouvoir mettre en place des programmes d’education therapeutique. Materiel et methode : Apres une premiere etape qualitative par entretien semi-directif permettant d’identifier des besoins educatifs, une deuxieme etape quantitative sous forme d’auto questionnaire a ete menee chez l’ensemble des patients venant en consultation aux CHU de Nantes et Angers. Resultats : Notre echantillon comportait 351 patients avec 73 % d’hommes et 27 % de femmes âges en moyenne de 45,7 ans (ecart-type = 11). Soixante-treize pour cent des patients declaraient parler avec leur medecin hospitalier et seulement 29 % avec les infirmieres. Les patients etaient a 83 % satisfaits de la disponibilite des professionnels de sante. Quatre-vingt-huit pour cent estimaient qu’on leur expliquait les decisions prises les concernant et 80 % qu’on leur demandait leur avis. Trente-et-un pour cent preferaient laisser les medecins decider. Parmi les 301 patients traites, 97 % estimaient etre capables de prendre correctement leur traitement, 56 % n’avaient jamais ressenti le besoin de faire une pause therapeutique et 48 % declaraient ne pas connaitre les complications du VIH. Soixante-huit pour cent des patients avaient peur du risque d’infection et en particulier les jeunes (p < 0,001). Les patients estimaient en majorite (63 % ; n = 190) avoir ete suffisamment informes sur l’existence d’une fatigue. Pour les autres effets indesirables (lipodystrophie, douleur, insomnie, modification de l’image corporelle), seule la moitie des patients estimait avoir ete suffisamment informe. Sur le plan affectif, 79 % des patients avaient quelqu’un a qui parler en cas de probleme et estimaient pouvoir trouver du soutien aupres de leurs proches. La moitie des patients se sentait isolee et 19 % discrimines (74 % des discriminations concernait les demandes de credits). Trois quarts des patients ne souhaitaient pas s’exprimer au sujet de leurs difficultes financieres, de leurs problemes professionnels et de la mort de proches due au VIH. Enfin, les patients traites depuis plus de dix ans ressentaient un besoin plus fort de s’investir dans une association (p = 0,001). Conclusion : Cette enquete quantitative est riche d’enseignements en matiere de besoins et d’attentes en education therapeutique. Il est fondamental que parallelement a la mise en œuvre de programme d’ETP, un travail de promotion sociale de ces personnes soit realise.

BACKGROUND Morbidity and mortality are higher among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) exposed but uninfected (HEU) infants than unexposed infants, particularly if the mother had a low CD4 count. We investigated the possible association between maternal immune depression during pregnancy and the risk of infection in HEU infants in the national French Perinatal Cohort (EPF). METHODS All neonates, born alive, to HIV-1-infected women enrolled in the EPF between 2002 and 2010 were included. The primary outcome was the first serious (hospitalization or death) infection during the first year of life. The main exposure variable was maternal CD4 cell count near delivery. The Kaplan-Meier method and multivariate Cox models were applied, with the different types of infections managed as competing events. RESULTS Among 7638 HEU neonates, 699 had at least 1 serious infection (of which 159 were bacterial) with a Kaplan-Meier probability of 9.3% (95% confidence interval, 8.7-10.0) at 1 year. The risk of serious bacterial infection during the first year of life significantly increased with lower maternal CD4 cell count, before and after adjustment for maternal CD4 cell count

The purpose of this study was to identify and quantify needs and expectations among HIV patients with a view to developing and implementing a therapeutic patient education program.A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews was conducted to identify patient education needs. A quantitative study based on a personal questionnaire was subsequently conducted at the teaching hospitals of Nantes and Angers (France).The study was based on a sample of 351 patients (73% of the sample were men and 27% were women). The mean age of the participants was 45.7 years. 73% of the patients stated that they had spoken to a hospital practitioner, while just 29% claimed to have spoken to nurses. 83% stated that they were satisfied with the availability of nursing staff. 88% considered that practitioners explained their treatment decisions, while 80% stated that they had been asked for their opinion. Of the 301 patients treated, 97% felt that they were able to correctly take their medication, while 48% felt that they had no knowledge of HIV-related complications. 68% of the patients expressed concerns about infection risks, particularly young patients (p0.001). Concerning the side effects of treatment (lipodystrophy, pain, insomnia, physical changes), half of the patients felt that they had been adequately informed. In terms of emotional support, 79% of the patients stated that they had someone to talk to in the event of a problem. Half of the patients felt isolated and 19% felt discriminated against. Three quarters of the patients did not wish to discuss their financial difficulties, their work problems or the death of a close relative due to HIV infection. Finally, patients treated for more than ten years felt a stronger need to join an association (p = 0.001).The results suggest the need to improve patients' ability to express their needs, particularly those who are not members of an association. In addition to the implementation of a therapeutic education program, a social support program is also needed.