Search Abstracts

Background Autoantibodies (AAbs), particularly those targeting type 1 interferon subtype alpha (aIFNα), nuclear antigens (ANAs), cardiolipin (aCL), and beta 2 glycoprotein 1 (aβ2GP1), have been associated with the severity of acute COVID-19. Whether SARS-CoV-2 induces these AAbs, however, and whether there are differences across settings, remains underexplored. We investigated AAbs prevalence and induction in individuals…

Background Long COVID (LC) is a mass disabling event affecting millions worldwide. Given the broad definitions and lack of biomarkers, there is an urgent need for diagnostic tools to identify those affected. Here we aimed to validate the RECOVER Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection (PASC) Score in a cohort of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients with LC…

Background Some individuals recovering from COVID-19 experience persistent symptoms after initial infection, a condition known as Long Covid (LC). Persons with vs without HIV (PWH; PWoH) are hypothesized to be at greater risk of LC due to chronic immune dysregulation. However, existing data are sparse and conflicting due to inconsistent definitions of LC. We used…

Background Understanding the prevalence and consequences of opportunistic infections (OIs) at antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation remains critical for informing HIV testing and care strategies that reduce the likelihood of late presentation for care. We assessed trends in OIs at ART initiation and their association with 1-year survival in the North American AIDS Cohort Collaboration on…

Background Current TB diagnostics are suboptimal to detect TB in patients with advanced HIV disease (AHD) who are at high risk for disseminated TB and mortality. Blood has been overlooked as a compartment for TB diagnostics in AHD. We determined the diagnostic yield of routine screening for TB in blood using Xpert Ultra (UXpert) and Myco/F…

Background Data from national programs are key to evaluate antiretroviral therapy (ART) virologic effectiveness in real-life settings, especially in people with HIV (PWH) receiving treatment for tuberculosis (TB) . The objective of the present study was to evaluate factors associated with virologic suppression within the Brazilian national HIV/TB program. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted from…

Background Most studies have focused on either healthcare worker collected (HCWC) or self-collected (SC) tongue swabs (TS) for detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but rarely on both. We assessed this, on TS collected from the same participant, using the Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra (Ultra) (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA, USA) along with participant acceptability of the collection procedure. Methods In…

Background An urgent need exists for non-sputum based point-of-care diagnostics to detect tuberculosis (TB) among people with advanced HIV disease. The Fujifilm SILVAMP TB LAM (FujiLAM) is a novel point-of-care assay that detects mycobacterial lipoarabinomannan (LAM) antigen in urine to identify TB. We present a validation of the updated FujiLAM assay on prospectively collected urine…

Background Studies show that people with HIV (PWH) may be prone to post-acute sequela of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), or Long COVID (LC). We investigated the association between HIV status and LC utilizing the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet) and the NCATS National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) databases.   Methods PCORnet and N3C cohorts were queried…

Background People with HIV (PWH) have impaired Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)-specific T cell responses, making induction of effective immunity challenging. Whether TB preventive therapy (TPT) modifies Mtb-specific T cell profile in PWH is unknown. We interrogated Mtb antigen-specific T cell responses in PWH with latent TB infection (LTBI) pre- and post-TPT within the ACTG A5279 clinical…