Project description:Sub-Saharan Africa represents 69% of the total number of individuals living with HIV infection worldwide and 72% of AIDS deaths globally. Pulmonary infection is a common and frequently fatal complication, though little is known regarding the lower airway microbiome composition of this population. Our objectives were to characterize the lower airway microbiome of Ugandan HIV-infected patients with pneumonia, to determine relationships with demographic, clinical, immunological, and microbiological variables and to compare the composition and predicted metagenome of these communities to a comparable cohort of patients in the US (San Francisco). Bronchoalveolar lavage samples from a cohort of 60 Ugandan HIV-infected patients with acute pneumonia were collected. Amplified 16S ribosomal RNA was profiled and aforementioned relationships examined. Ugandan airway microbiome composition and predicted metagenomic function were compared to US HIV-infected pneumonia patients. Among the most common bacterial pulmonary pathogens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was most prevalent in the Ugandan cohort. Patients with a richer and more diverse airway microbiome exhibited lower bacterial burden, enrichment of members of the Lachnospiraceae and sulfur-reducing bacteria and reduced expression of TNF-alpha and matrix metalloproteinase-9. Compared to San Franciscan patients, Ugandan airway microbiome were significantly richer, and compositionally distinct with predicted metagenomes that encoded a multitude of distinct pathogenic pathways e.g secretion systems. Ugandan pneumonia-associated airway microbiome is compositionally and functionally distinct from those detected in comparable patients in developed countries, a feature which may contribute to adverse outcomes in this population. Please note that the data from the comparable cohort of patients in the USUS data was published as supplemental material of PMID: 22760045 but not submitted to GEO The 'patient_info.txt' contains 12 clinical, 7 immunological and 3 microbiological variables for each patient.

Project description:BackgroundIn the developing world, such as the sub-Saharan African region, HIV/AIDS has worsened the impact of under-nutrition in children. HIV infected children are highly vulnerable to under-nutrition. Therefore, the objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to estimate the pooled prevalence of under-nutrition, and the pooled effect sizes of associated factors among HIV-infected children in sub-Saharan Africa.MethodsThe primary studies for this review were retrieved from PubMed/ MEDLINE online, Science Direct, Hinari, web of science, CINHAL, EMBASE, WHO databases, Google, and Google Scholar databases. The articles selected for this meta-analysis were published between 2010 and 2020. The last search date was 18 October 2021. The data was extracted in Microsoft Excel format and exported to STATA Version 14.0. A random effect meta-analysis model was used. Heterogeneity was evaluated by the I2 test. The Egger weighted regression test was used to assess publication bias.ResultsWe retrieved 847 records from these databases. Of which records, 813 were excluded due to different reasons and 34 studies were included in the final analysis. The pooled prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting in HIV infected children was 46.7% (95% CI; 40.36-53.07, I2 = 98.7%, p < 0.01), 35.9% (95% CI; 30.79-41.02, I2 = 97.4% p < 0.01), and 23.0% (95% CI; 18.67-27.42, I2 = 96.9%, p < 0.01) respectively. The advanced WHO HIV/AIDS clinical staging (III&IV) [OR = 6.74 (95%: 1.747, 26.021), I2 = 94.7%] and household food insecurity were associated with stunting [OR = 5.92 (95% CI 3.9, 8.87), I2 = 55.7%]. Low family economic status [OR = 4.737 (95% CI: 2.605, 8.614), I2 = 31.2%] and increased feeding frequency [OR = 0.323 (95% CI: 0.172, 0.605), I2 = 69.8%] were significantly associated with under-weight. Anemia [OR = 2.860 (95% CI: 1.636, 5.000), I2 = 74.8%] and diarrhea in the previous month [OR = 4.117 (95% CI: 2.876, 5.894), I2 = 0.0%] were also associated with wasting among HIV infected children in sub-Saharan Africa.ConclusionsThe pooled prevalence of under-nutrition among HIV infected children was high. Nutritional assessment and interventions need great attention as a part of HIV care for HIV positive children. The implementation of policies and strategies established by national and international stakeholders in ART care centres should take a maximum emphasis on reducing under-nutrition among HIV infected children.

Project description:Sub-Saharan Africa represents 69% of the total number of individuals living with HIV infection worldwide and 72% of AIDS deaths globally. Pulmonary infection is a common and frequently fatal complication, though little is known regarding the lower airway microbiome composition of this population. Our objectives were to characterize the lower airway microbiome of Ugandan HIV-infected patients with pneumonia, to determine relationships with demographic, clinical, immunological, and microbiological variables and to compare the composition and predicted metagenome of these communities to a comparable cohort of patients in the US (San Francisco). Bronchoalveolar lavage samples from a cohort of 60 Ugandan HIV-infected patients with acute pneumonia were collected. Amplified 16S ribosomal RNA was profiled and aforementioned relationships examined. Ugandan airway microbiome composition and predicted metagenomic function were compared to US HIV-infected pneumonia patients. Among the most common bacterial pulmonary pathogens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was most prevalent in the Ugandan cohort. Patients with a richer and more diverse airway microbiome exhibited lower bacterial burden, enrichment of members of the Lachnospiraceae and sulfur-reducing bacteria and reduced expression of TNF-alpha and matrix metalloproteinase-9. Compared to San Franciscan patients, Ugandan airway microbiome were significantly richer, and compositionally distinct with predicted metagenomes that encoded a multitude of distinct pathogenic pathways e.g secretion systems. Ugandan pneumonia-associated airway microbiome is compositionally and functionally distinct from those detected in comparable patients in developed countries, a feature which may contribute to adverse outcomes in this population. Please note that the data from the comparable cohort of patients in the USUS data was published as supplemental material of PMID: 22760045 but not submitted to GEO The 'patient_info.txt' contains 12 clinical, 7 immunological and 3 microbiological variables for each patient. The G2 PhyloChip microarray platform (commercially available from Second Genome, Inc.) was used to profile bacteria in lower airway samples from 60 subjects

Project description:IntroductionSub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region harbours the highest burden of HIV infections in the world. Agricultural work has been reported as one of the occupations with a high prevalence of HIV. Farm workers generally have poor access to health services, which prevents them from receiving proper HIV prevention and care. Furthermore, poor policies and policy implementation, and lack of workplace programmes increases farm workers' vulnerability to HIV infection. Thus, the aim of this study is to conduct a systematic review to assess HIV prevention and treatment services and national policies governing access to healthcare services by farm workers in SSA.Methods and analysisOur systematic review will include studies published from January 1990 to December 2021 within SSA countries. We will use a sensitive search strategy for electronic bibliographic databases and grey literature sources. Databases will include PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane library, African Index Medicus and Scopus. The main outcomes to be reported will be HIV policy for farmworkers, availability of HIV prevention service(s), availability of treatment and support to farmworkers who are living with HIV, presence of referral structures for farmworkers through the health system and follow-up services for farmworkers who are on antiretroviral therapy. We will synthesise the main characteristics of included studies and use summary measures to describe study characteristics. In a situation where data are not sufficiently homogeneous to perform a quantitative synthesis, we will conduct a narrative synthesis. We will explore themes and relationships between included studies for qualitative data.Ethics and disseminationThe study will use publicly available data and ethics exemption has been obtained from Human Research Ethics Committees, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University. The results of this study will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals, conference presentations and seminars.Prospero registration numberCRD42021277528.

Project description:BackgroundCommunity-based interventions are increasingly being implemented in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for stillbirth prevention, but the nature of these interventions, their reporting and acceptability are poorly assessed. In addition to understanding their effectiveness, complete reporting of the methods, results and intervention acceptability is essential as it could potentially reduce research waste from replication of inadequately implemented and unacceptable interventions. We conducted a systematic review to investigate these aspects of community-based interventions for preventing stillbirths in SSA.MethodsIn this systematic review, eight databases (MEDLINE(OvidSP), Embase (OvidSP), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Global Health, Science Citation Index and Social Science Citation index (Web of Science Core Collection), CINAHL (EBSCOhost) and Global Index Medicus) and four grey literature sources were searched from January 1, 2000 to July 7, 2023 for relevant quantitative and qualitative studies from SSA (PROSPERO-CRD42021296623). Following deduplication, abstract screening and full-text review, studies were included if the interventions were community-based with or without a health facility component. The main outcomes were types of community-based interventions, completeness of intervention reporting using the TIDier (Template for Intervention Description and replication) checklist, and themes related to intervention acceptability identified using a theoretical framework. Study quality was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias and National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's tools.FindingsThirty-nine reports from thirty-four studies conducted in 18 SSA countries were eligible for inclusion. Four types of interventions were identified: nutritional, infection prevention, access to skilled childbirth attendants and health knowledge/behaviour of women. These interventions were implemented using nine strategies: mHealth (defined as the use of mobile and wireless technologies to support the achievement of health objectives), women's groups, community midwifery, home visits, mass media sensitisation, traditional birth attendant and community volunteer training, community mobilisation and transport vouchers. The completeness of reporting using the TIDier checklist varied across studies with a very low proportion of the included studies reporting the intervention intensity, dosing, tailoring and modification. The quality of the included studies were graded as poor (n = 6), fair (n = 14) and good (n = 18). Though interventions were acceptable, only 4 (out of 7) studies explored women's perceptions, mostly focusing on perceived intervention effects and how they felt, omitting key constructs like ethicality, opportunity cost and burden of participation.InterpretationDifferent community-based interventions have been tried and evaluated for stillbirth prevention in SSA. The reproducibility and implementation scale-up of these interventions may be limited by incomplete intervention descriptions in the published literature. To strengthen impact, it is crucial to holistically explore the acceptability of these interventions among women and their families.FundingClarendon/Balliol/NDPH DPhil scholarship for UGA. MN is funded by a Medical Research Council Transition Support Award (MR/W029294/1).

Project description:Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are hyperendemic in sub-Saharan Africa. The HBV genotypes prevailing in HIV-infected Africans are unknown. Our aim was to determine the HBV genotypes in HIV-infected participants and to identify clinically significant HBV mutations. From 71 HBV DNA(+ve) HIV-infected participants, 49 basic core promoter/precore (BCP/PC) and 29 complete S regions were successfully sequenced. Following phylogenetic analysis of 29 specimens in the complete S region, 28 belonged to subgenotype A1 and one to D3. Mutations affecting HBeAg expression at the transcriptional (1762T1764A), translational (Kozak 1809-1812, initiation 1814-1816, G1896A with C1858T), or post translational levels (G1862T), were responsible for the high HBeAg-negativity observed. The G1862T mutation occurred only in subgenotype A1 isolates, which were found in one third (7/21) of HBsAg(-ve) participants, but in none of the 18 HBsAg(+ve) participants (p<0.05). Pre-S deletion mutants were detected in four HBsAg(+ve) and one HBsAg(-ve) participant/s. The following mutations occurred significantly more frequently in HBV isolated in this study than in strains of the same cluster of the phylogenetic tree: ps1F25L, ps1V88L/A; ps2Q10R, ps2 R48K/T, ps2A53V and sQ129R/H, sQ164A/V/G/D, sV168A and sS174N (p<0.05). ps1I48V/T occurred more frequently in females than males (p<0.05). Isolates with sV168A occurred more frequently in participants with viral loads >200 IU per ml (p<0.05) and only sS174N occurred more frequently in HBsAg(-ve) than in HBsAg(+ve) individuals (p<0.05). Prior to initiation of ART, ten percent, 3 of 29 isolates sequenced, had drug resistance mutations rtV173L, rtL180M+rtM204V and rtV214A, respectively. This study has provided important information on the molecular characteristics of HBV in HIV-infected southern Africans prior to ART initiation, which has important clinical relevance in the management of HBV/HIV co-infection in our unique setting.

Dataset Information

Stroke in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-infected Individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): A Systematic Review.

Publications

Stroke in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-infected Individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): A Systematic Review.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets