1,721,001 research outputs found
Impairment of polymorphonuclear leucocyte function in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and with lymphadenopathy syndrome
No full textGranulocyte functions were studied in 20 patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), 20 subjects with lymphadenopathy syndrome (LAS) and 15 symptom-free drug addicts (SFDA). Polymorphonuclear leucocyte (PMNL) phagocytosis and killing of C. albicans appeared normal in homosexual men with AIDS, while drug addicts with AIDS or LAS and SFDA showed a significant defect of these functions as compared to healthy controls. Migration of PMNL in response to a chemoattractant was normal in SFDA, but markedly defective both in LAS and in AIDS patients. In the AIDS group no significant differences were evident between homosexual men and drug addicts. We conclude that defective PMNL phagocytosis and killing, unlike defective migration, are somehow related to drug abuse rather than to infection with the causative agent of the immunodeficiency
Immunological status in heroin addicts: effects of methadone maintenance treatment
No full textIn opiate addicts specific and unspecific immune responses were examined, before and after methadone treatment. Anomalous immune responses were characterized by compromised cellular immunity (functional deficits of polymorphonuclear leukocytes and T-lymphocytes) in association with efficient production of antibodies. After methadone treatment an elevation of leukocyte functions was noted. The presence of elevated titres of circulating immune complexes observed in all the patients tested could bring about a functional exhaustion of neutrophils. The defects of cellular immunity can be considered important risk factors in the pathogenesis of infectious diseases in addicts
Pulmonary candidiasis in a heroin addict: some remarks on its aetiology and pathogenesis
No full textWe describe a case of pulmonary candidiasis in a 26-year old drug-addict who had been recently submitted to a porto-caval bypass operation. This opportunistic infection appeared after an injection of heroin. The same patient was also found to suffer from a severe cellular immune response defect. No opportunistic fungal infections were observed, despite the frequent use of intravenous heroin, in a group of 20 parenteral drug addicts. The latter patients, however, were showing only minor abnormalities of their immunological status. Although in this case the main cause of the disease may have been the injection of heroin contaminated with the infecting organism, other important factors contributing to the development of opportunistic mycoses seem to be a reduced microbicidal capacity of the polymorphonuclear leukocytes and an impaired cell-mediated immunity
HLA-associated susceptibility to AIDS: HLA B35 is a major risk factor for Italian HIV-infected intravenous drug addicts
No full textThirty-one AIDS patients were typed for HLA A, B, C, and DR antigens. We confirmed that frequency of B35 is significantly higher in patients than in controls. No significant frequency differences in other HLA antigens were found. The analysis of HLA distribution in AIDS patients by risk categories suggests that B35 is a major risk factor, primarily mainly for patients belonging to the category of intravenous (IV) drug addicts
A study of cellular immunity in newborns after prevention of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS)
No full textCellular immune responsiveness against infections was evaluated in four groups of newborns. The first group was composed of preterm newborns whose mothers had received betamethasone for prevention of RDS, the second group of preterm newborns whose mothers had received ambroxol for prevention of RDS, the third group of preterm newborns whose mothers had not received any drug enhancing surfactant production, and the fourth group were healthy-term infants. A reduction of OKT4+ cells and functional deficits of neutrophils were found in preterm infants born to mothers treated with steroids, whereas no functional abnormalities of immune-competent cells were observed in preterm infants born to mothers treated with ambroxol
Unusual varicella zoster virus infection in patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
No full textLongitudinal evaluation of occult Hepatitis B infection in HIV-1 infected individuals during highly active antiretroviral treatment interruption and after HAART resumption.
No full textBACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The prevalence and clinical significance of overt hepatitis B (OHB) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals and the effect of HAART on this cryptic infection remain controversial. We have investigated the potential effect of the interruption and subsequent re-introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) on the frequency and dynamics of OHB in HIV-infected individuals.
STUDY DESIGN: This pilot study involved 29 HIV-infected individuals who tested positive for HB anti-core antibodies in the absence of surface antigen during a 100-week period (48-week-long interruption of HAART or lamivudine monotherapy plus 52 weeks of follow-up prior to HAART resumption). The frequency and dynamics of OHB were assessed by means of qualitative detection tests and quantification in the plasma. Resistance to HBV was determined by direct sequence analysis of the polymerase gene.
RESULTS: Of the 29 HIV-infected individuals enrolled in the study, nine (31%) showed signs of OHB during the 100-week study period: three patients showed intermittent HB virus (HBV)-DNAemia, while six patients were HBV-DNA positive only at 16 weeks following HAART resumption. The HBV-DNA load invariably fell below the sensitivity of the quantitative test (10(3 )copies/mL). The HIV-related immuno-virologic profile and biochemical parameters, including hepatic transaminases, of patients with at least one HBV-DNA positive test result were not significant different from those of individuals who consistently tested negative for HBV-DNA. The only significant parameter was a lower median change (Δ1) in the CD4+/CD8+ ratio (p = 0.038) in occult HBV cases compared to non-occult cases, between the HAART re-introduction time point and baseline.
CONCLUSIONS: The intermittent nature of HBV-DNAemia poses a diagnostic challenge, but no association was found with transaminase levels at any time
Milan as possible starting point of LAV/HTLV III epidemic among Italian drug addicts
No full textSera collected between 1978 and 1985 from 716 parenteral drug-addicts admitted to our Clinic with viral hepatitis were tested for antibodies to HTLV III. None of the patients was showing symptoms suggestive of LAV/HTLV III infection at the time of sera collection. Positivity for HTLV III antibody was found and confirmed (by ELISA) in 212 subjects (29.6%). The earliest positivity appeared in a serum sample collected in February 1979. These and other data point to Milan as to the actual source of the Italian PDAs-linked LAV/HTLV-III epidemic
Hepatic safety profile of darunavir with low dose ritonavir (DRV/r) in HIV/HCV coinfected and HIV monoinfected patients.
No full textThe hepatic safety profile of ART including DRV/r was retrospectively evaluated in antiretroviral-experienced HIV-infected patients (18 HIV/HCV coinfected, group A and 29 infected with HIV alone, group B) during a 72 week study.
During the study, liver enzyme values were higher in group A, but in the case of abnormal transaminase levels, the median values did not exceed 1.6xULN. This study showed evidence of long-lasting hepatic safety of ART including PI DRV/r in HIV/HCV coinfected and in HIV monoinfected persons
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