Rates of adverse events during follow-up were similar in the two study groups.

CONCLUSIONS

The initiation of antiretroviral therapy during tuberculosis BAY 1895344 therapy significantly improved survival and provides further impetus

for the integration of tuberculosis and HIV services. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00398996.)”
“We evaluated the efficacy of rhesus theta-defensin 1 (RTD-1), a novel cyclic antimicrobial peptide, as a prophylactic antiviral in a mouse model of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus (CoV) lung disease. BALB/c mice exposed to a mouse-adapted strain of SARS-CoV demonstrated 100% survival and modest reductions in lung pathology without reductions in virus titer when treated with two intranasal doses of RTD-1, while mortality in untreated mice was similar to 75%. RTD-1-treated, SARS-CoV-infected mice displayed altered lung tissue cytokine responses 2 and 4 days postinfection compared to those of untreated animals, suggesting that one possible mechanism of action for RTD-1 is immunomodulatory.”
“BACKGROUND

Tuberculosis screening is recommended for people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection to facilitate early diagnosis and safe initiation of antiretroviral therapy and isoniazid preventive therapy. No internationally accepted, evidence-based guideline addresses the optimal means of conducting such screening,

although screening for chronic cough is common.

METHODS

We consecutively enrolled people with HIV infection from eight outpatient clinics in Cambodia, Thailand, CHIR-99021 and Vietnam. For each patient, three samples of sputum and one each of urine, stool, blood, and lymph-node see more aspirate (for patients with lymphadenopathy) were obtained for mycobacterial culture.

We compared the characteristics of patients who received a diagnosis of tuberculosis (on the basis of having one or more specimens that were culture-positive) with those of patients who did not have tuberculosis to derive an algorithm for screening and diagnosis.

RESULTS

Tuberculosis was diagnosed in 267 (15%) of 1748 patients (median CD4+ T-lymphocyte count, 242 per cubic millimeter; interquartile range, 82 to 396). The presence of a cough for 2 or 3 weeks or more during the preceding 4 weeks had a sensitivity of 22 to 33% for detecting tuberculosis. The presence of cough of any duration, fever of any duration, or night sweats lasting 3 or more weeks in the preceding 4 weeks was 93% sensitive and 36% specific for tuberculosis. In the 1199 patients with any of these symptoms, a combination of two negative sputum smears, a normal chest radiograph, and a CD4+ cell count of 350 or more per cubic millimeter helped to rule out a diagnosis of tuberculosis, whereas a positive diagnosis could be made only for the 113 patients (9%) with one or more positive sputum smears; mycobacterial culture was required for most other patients.