Visceral Leishmaniasis and HIV coinfection in East Africa.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Diro E
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4072530 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Visceral Leishmaniasis and HIV coinfection in East Africa.
Diro Ermias E Lynen Lutgarde L Ritmeijer Koert K Boelaert Marleen M Hailu Asrat A van Griensven Johan J
PLoS neglected tropical diseases 20140626 6
Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is an important protozoan opportunistic disease in HIV patients in endemic areas. East Africa is second to the Indian subcontinent in the global VL caseload and first in VL-HIV coinfection rate. Because of the alteration in the disease course, the diagnostic challenges, and the poor treatment responses, VL with HIV coinfection has become a very serious challenge in East Africa today. Field experience with the use of liposomal amphotericin B in combination with miltefo ...[more]
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Project description:Visceral leishmaniasis is hypoendemic in Mediterranean countries, where it is caused by the flagellate protozoan Leishmania infantum. VL cases in this area account for 5%-6% of the global burden. Cases of Leishmania/HIV coinfection have been reported in the Mediterranean region, mainly in France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Since highly active antiretroviral therapy was introduced in 1997, a marked decrease in the number of coinfected cases in this region has been reported. The development of new diagnostic methods to accurately identify level of parasitemia and the risk of relapse is one of the main challenges in improving the treatment of coinfected patients. Clinical trials in the Mediterranean region are needed to determine the most adequate therapeutic options for Leishmania/HIV patients as well as the indications and regimes for secondary prophylaxis. This article reviews the epidemiological, diagnostic, clinical, and therapeutic aspects of Leishmania/HIV coinfection in the Mediterranean region.
| S-EPMC4140663 | biostudies-other
Project description:BackgroundAccurate and accessible diagnosis is key for the control of visceral leishmaniasis (VL). Yet, current diagnostic tests for VL have severe limitations: they are invasive or not suitable as point of care (POC) test or their performance is suboptimal in East Africa. We analysed the antigens in the VL serodiagnostics development pipeline to identify shortcomings and to propose strategies in the development of an alternative POC test for VL in East Africa.ObjectivesThe objective of this study was to identify and to analyse all antigens for VL serodiagnosis that have been published before 2018 in order to identify candidates and gaps in the pipeline for a new POC test in East Africa.MethodsA systematic literature search was performed on PubMed for original research articles on Leishmania-specific antigens for antibody detection of VL in humans. From each article, the following information was extracted: the antigen name, test format and characteristics, its reported sensitivity and specificity and study cohort specifications.ResultsOne hundred and seven articles containing information about 96 tests based on 89 different antigens were included in this study. Eighty six of these tests, comprising 80 antigens, were evaluated in phase I and II studies only. Only 20 antigens, all of which are native, contain a carbohydrate and/or lipid moiety. Twenty-four antigens, of which 7 are non-native, are composed of antigen mixtures. Nineteen tests, comprising 18 antigens, have been evaluated on East African specimens, of which only 2 (rK28 based immunochromatographic test and intact promastigote based indirect fluorescent antibody technique) consistently showed sensitivities above 94 and specificities above 97% in a phase III study and one in a phase II study (dot blot with SLA). Only rK28 is a non-native mixture of antigens which we consider suitable for further evaluation and implementation.ConclusionsThe development pipeline for an alternative serodiagnostic test for VL is almost empty. Most antigens are not sufficiently evaluated. Non-protein antigens and antigen mixtures are being neglected. We propose to expand the evaluation of existing antigen candidates and to investigate the diagnostic potential of defined non-native carbohydrate and lipid antigens for VL serodiagnosis in East Africa.
| S-EPMC6711545 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundIn visceral leishmaniasis (VL) patients coinfected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), combination therapy (liposomal amphotericin B infusion and oral miltefosine) is being considered as an alternative to liposomal amphotericin B monotherapy. We aimed to assess the views of stakeholders in relation to these treatment options.MethodologyIn a mixed methods study, we surveyed and interviewed patients, government functionaries, programme managers, health service providers, nongovernmental organizations, researchers, and World Health Organization (WHO) personnel. We used the Evidence to Decision (EtD) framework for data collection planning and analysis. Constructs of interest included valuation of outcomes, impact on equity, feasibility and acceptability of the treatment options, implementation considerations, monitoring and evaluation, and research priorities.Principal findings/conclusionMortality and non-serious adverse events were rated as "critical" by respectively the highest (61%) and lowest percentages (47%) of survey participants. Participants viewed clinical cure as essential for patients to regain productivity. Non-patient stakeholders emphasized the importance of "sustained" clinical cure. For most survey participants, combination therapy, compared with monotherapy, would increase health equity (40%), and be more acceptable (79%) and feasible (57%). Interviews revealed that combination therapy was more feasible and acceptable than monotherapy when associated with a shorter duration of hospitalization. The findings of the interviews provided insight into those of the survey. When choosing between alternative options, providers should consider the outcomes that matter to patients as well as the impact on equity, feasibility, and acceptability of the options.
| S-EPMC9410553 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a vector-borne disease that is deadly if left untreated. Understanding which factors have prognostic value may help to focus clinical management and reduce case fatality. However, information about prognostic factors is scattered and conflicting. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify prognostic factors for mortality among VL patients in East Africa. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:The review protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42016043112). We included studies published in English after 1970 describing VL patients treated in East African health facilities. To be included, studies had to report on associations between clinical or laboratory factors and mortality during admission or during VL treatment, with a minimal study size of ten patients. Conference abstracts and evaluations of genetic or immunological prognostic factors were excluded. We searched for studies in MEDLINE and four other databases in December 2018. To assess the risk of bias in observational studies and clinical trials, we used the Quality in Prognostic Studies (QUIPS) tool. We included 48 studies in the systematic review, describing 150,072 VL patients of whom 7,847 (5.2%) died. Twelve prognostic factors were evaluated in five or more studies and these results were submitted to meta-analysis producing one pooled crude odds ratio (OR) per prognostic factor. The following factors were strongly (OR>3) and significantly (P-value<0.05) associated with mortality: jaundice (OR = 8.27), HIV (OR = 4.60), tuberculosis (OR = 4.06), age >45 years (OR = 3.69), oedema (OR = 3.52), bleeding (OR = 3.37), and haemoglobin ?6.5 g/dl (OR = 3.26). Factors significantly and moderately (OR between one and three) associated with death were severe malnutrition, long duration of illness, young age (<5 years), and large spleen size. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:These prognostic factors can be identified by health professionals in resource-constrained settings. They should be considered as "core" prognostic factors in future studies that aim at improving the prognosis of VL patients.
| S-EPMC7255612 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Alternative treatments for visceral leishmaniasis (VL) are required in East Africa. Paromomycin sulphate (PM) has been shown to be efficacious for VL treatment in India.A multi-centre randomized-controlled trial (RCT) to compare efficacy and safety of PM (20 mg/kg/day for 21 days) and PM plus sodium stibogluconate (SSG) combination (PM, 15 mg/kg/day and SSG, 20 mg/kg/day for 17 days) with SSG (20 mg/kg/day for 30 days) for treatment of VL in East Africa. Patients aged 4-60 years with parasitologically confirmed VL were enrolled, excluding patients with contraindications. Primary and secondary efficacy outcomes were parasite clearance at 6-months follow-up and end of treatment, respectively. Safety was assessed mainly using adverse event (AE) data.The PM versus SSG comparison enrolled 205 patients per arm with primary efficacy data available for 198 and 200 patients respectively. The SSG & PM versus SSG comparison enrolled 381 and 386 patients per arm respectively, with primary efficacy data available for 359 patients per arm. In Intention-to-Treat complete-case analyses, the efficacy of PM was significantly lower than SSG (84.3% versus 94.1%, difference?=?9.7%, 95% confidence interval, CI: 3.6 to 15.7%, p?=?0.002). The efficacy of SSG & PM was comparable to SSG (91.4% versus 93.9%, difference?=?2.5%, 95% CI: -1.3 to 6.3%, p?=?0.198). End of treatment efficacy results were very similar. There were no apparent differences in the safety profile of the three treatment regimens.The 17 day SSG & PM combination treatment had a good safety profile and was similar in efficacy to the standard 30 day SSG treatment, suggesting suitability for VL treatment in East Africa.www.clinicaltrials.govNCT00255567.
| S-EPMC3378617 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a major health problem in developing countries. The untreated disease is fatal, available treatment is expensive and often toxic, and drug resistance is increasing. Improved treatment options are needed. Paromomycin was shown to be an efficacious first-line treatment with low toxicity in India.This was a 3-arm multicentre, open-label, randomized, controlled clinical trial to compare three treatment regimens for VL in East Africa: paromomycin sulphate (PM) at 15 mg/kg/day for 21 days versus sodium stibogluconate (SSG) at 20 mg/kg/day for 30 days; and the combination of both dose regimens for 17 days. The primary efficacy endpoint was cure based on parasite-free tissue aspirates taken 6 months after treatment.Overall, 135 patients per arm were enrolled at five centres in Sudan (2 sites), Kenya (1) and Ethiopia (2), when the PM arm had to be discontinued due to poor efficacy. The trial has continued with the higher dose of PM as well as the combination of PM and SSG arms. These results will be reported later. Baseline patient characteristics were similar among treatment arms. The overall cure with PM was significantly inferior to that with SSG (63.8% versus 92.2%; difference 28.5%, 95%CI 18.8% to 38.8%, p<0.001). The efficacy of PM varied among centres and was significantly lower in Sudan (14.3% and 46.7%) than in Kenya (80.0%) and Ethiopia (75.0% and 96.6%). No major safety issues with PM were identified.The efficacy of PM at 15 mg/kg/day for 21 days was inadequate, particularly in Sudan. The efficacy of higher doses and the combination treatment warrant further studies.
| S-EPMC2964287 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a fatal disease and a growing public health problem in East Africa, where Ethiopia has one of the highest VL burdens. The largest focus of VL in Ethiopia is driven by high prevalence in migrant agricultural workers and associated with a high rate of coinfection with HIV. This coinfection makes VL more difficult to treat successfully and is associated with a high rate of relapse, with VL/HIV patients frequently experiencing many relapses of VL before succumbing to this infection. We present genome-wide data on Leishmania donovani isolates from a longitudinal study of cohorts of VL and VL/HIV patients reporting to a single clinic in Ethiopia. Extensive clinical data allow us to investigate the influence of coinfection and relapse on the populations of parasites infecting these patients. We find that the same parasite population is responsible for both VL and VL/HIV infections and that, in most cases, disease relapse is caused by recrudescence of the population of parasites that caused primary VL. Complex, multiclonal infections are present in both primary and relapse cases, but the infrapopulation of parasites within a patient loses genetic diversity between primary disease presentation and subsequent relapses, presumably due to a population bottleneck induced by treatment. These data suggest that VL/HIV relapses are not caused by genetically distinct parasite infections or by reinfection. Treatment of VL does not lead to sterile cure, and in VL/HIV, the infecting parasites are able to reestablish after clinically successful treatment, leading to repeated relapse of VL. IMPORTANCE Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is the second largest cause of deaths due to parasite infections and a growing problem in East Africa. In Ethiopia, it is particularly associated with migrant workers moving from regions of nonendemicity for seasonal agricultural work and is frequently found as a coinfection with HIV, which leads to frequent VL relapse following treatment. Insight into the process of relapse in these patients is thus key to controlling the VL epidemic in Ethiopia. We show that there is little genetic differentiation between the parasites infecting HIV-positive and HIV-negative VL patients. Moreover, we provide evidence that relapses are caused by the initially infecting parasite population and that treatment induces a loss of genetic diversity in this population. We propose that restoring functioning immunity and improving antiparasitic treatment may be key in breaking the cycle of relapsing VL in VL/HIV patients.
| S-EPMC8262925 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundVisceral leishmaniasis (VL) is on the verge of being eliminated as a public health problem in the Indian subcontinent. Although Post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) is recognized as an important reservoir of transmission, we hypothesized that VL patients co-infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) may also be important reservoirs of sustained leishmania transmission. We therefore investigated to what extent cases of PKDL or VL-HIV are associated with VL incidence at the village level in Bihar, India.MethodsVL, VL-HIV, and PKDL case data from six districts within the highly VL-endemic state of Bihar, India were collected through the Kala-Azar Management Information System for the years 2014-2019. Multivariate analysis was done using negative binomial regression controlling for year as a fixed effect and block (subdistrict) as a random effect.FindingsPresence of VL-HIV+ and PKDL cases were both associated with a more than twofold increase in VL incidence at village level, with Incidence Rate Ratios (IRR) of 2.16 (95% CI 1.81-2.58) and 2.37 (95% CI 2.01-2.81) for VL-HIV+ and PKDL cases respectively. A sensitivity analysis showed the strength of the association to be similar in each of the six included subdistricts.ConclusionsThese findings indicate the importance of VL-HIV+ patients as infectious reservoirs for Leishmania, and suggest that they represent a threat equivalent to PKDL patients towards the VL elimination initiative on the Indian subcontinent, therefore warranting a similar focus.
| S-EPMC7993201 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In the wake of the HIV epidemic, visceral leishmaniasis (VL), a disseminated protozoan infection caused by the Leishmania donovani complex, has been re-emerging, particularly in North Ethiopia where up to 40% of patients with VL are co-infected with HIV. Management of VL in HIV co-infection is complicated by increased drug toxicity, and high treatment failure and relapse rates with all currently available drugs, despite initiation of antiretroviral treatment. Tackling L. donovani infection before disease onset would thus be a logical approach. A screen-and-treat approach targeting latent or the early stage of infection has successfully been implemented in other HIV-associated opportunistic infections. While conceptually attractive in the context of VL-HIV, the basic understanding and evidence underpinning such an approach is currently lacking. Prospective cohort studies will have to be conducted to quantify the risk of VL in different risk groups and across CD4 cell count levels. This will allow developing clinical prognostic tools, integrating clinical, HIV and Leishmania infection markers. Interventional studies will be needed to evaluate prophylactic or pre-emptive treatment strategies for those at risk, ideally relying on an oral (combination) regimen. Issues like tolerability, emergence of resistance and drug interactions will require due attention. The need for maintenance therapy will have to be assessed. Based on the risk-benefit data, VL risk cut-offs will have to be identified to target treatment to those most likely to benefit. Such a strategy should be complemented with early initiation of antiretroviral treatment and other strategies to prevent HIV and Leishmania infection.
| S-EPMC4125108 | biostudies-other
Project description:Diagnosis of a first-time visceral leishmaniasis (VL) infection in Ethiopia is established by use of a rapid diagnostic test (RDT) detecting antibodies against rK39, direct agglutination test (DAT) and microscopy according to the national algorithm. The performance of individual tests and algorithm is variable and depends on several factors, one being HIV status. Limited data are available on the performance of tests in VL-HIV coinfected patients. Assessment of the performance of DAT (ITM-A), rK39 ELISA (Serion) and six RDT (Onsite Leishmania Ab CTK, Antigen ICT Xinjier, IT Leish Biorad, Kalazar Detect Inbios, rK39 IgG1 Coris, rk28 IgG1 Coris) for the diagnosis of VL was done on a panel of 91 stored serum and plasma samples of 'first-episode' suspected VL patients, with HIV coinfection (n = 51) and without (n = 40). A combined reference standard was used: either positive microscopy on tissue aspirates, or in case of negative microscopy, positive PCR results on the aspirate slide. Additionally, endemic healthy controls (n = 20), non-endemic controls (n = 10) and patients with confirmed malaria infection (n = 10) were tested for specificity evaluation. Sensitivities ranged from 69.2% for DAT (applied cut-off ≥ 1/3200) to 92.2% for the Onsite RDT, whereas specificities ranged from 20.0% for Kalazar Antigen ICT to 100% for IT Leish and rK39 IgG1. Sensitivities from all assays decreased upon stratification according to HIV status but was only significantly different for rK39 Serion ELISA (p-value 0.0084) and the Onsite RDT (p-value 0.0159). In conclusion, performance of commercially available assays for VL on samples from Northern-Ethiopian patients varied widely with a substantial decrease in sensitivity in the VL-HIV coinfected group. Clear guidelines on minimal performance criteria of individual tests and algorithms are needed, as well as which reference standard should be used to determine the performance.
| S-EPMC7774845 | biostudies-literature