Eugene T. Richardson

The global response to HIV in men who have sex with men

Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) continue to have disproportionately high burdens of HIV infection in countries of low, middle, and high income in 2016. 4 years after publication of a Lancet Series on MSM and HIV, progress on reducing HIV incidence, expanding sustained access to treatment, and realising human rights gains for MSM remains markedly uneven and fraught with challenges. Incidence densities in MSM are unacceptably high in countries as diverse as China, Kenya, Thailand, the UK, and the USA, with substantial disparities observed in specific communities of MSM including young and minority populations. Although some settings have achieved sufficient coverage of treatment, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and human rights protections for sexual and gender minorities to change the trajectory of the HIV epidemic in MSM, these are exceptions. The roll-out of PrEP has been notably slow and coverage nowhere near what will be required for full use of this new preventive approach. Despite progress on issues such as marriage equality and decriminalisation of same-sex behaviour in some countries, there has been a marked increase in anti-gay legislation in many countries, including Nigeria, Russia, and The Gambia. The global epidemic of HIV in MSM is ongoing, and global efforts to address it remain insufficient. This must change if we are ever to truly achieve an AIDS-free generation.

Gender inequality and HIV transmission: a global analysis

The HIV pandemic disproportionately impacts young women. Worldwide, young women aged 15–24 are infected with HIV at rates twice that of young men, and young women alone account for nearly a quarter of all new HIV infections. The incommensurate HIV incidence in young – often poor – women underscores how social and economic inequalities shape the HIV epidemic. Confluent social forces, including political and gender violence, poverty, racism, and sexism impede equal access to therapies and effective care, but most of all constrain the agency of women.

Shared air: a renewed focus on ventilation for the prevention of tuberculosis transmission.

Background Despite an improvement in the overall TB cure rate from 40–74% between 1995 and 2011, TB incidence in South Africa continues to increase. The epidemic is notably disquieting in schools because the vulnerable population is compelled to be present. Older learners (age 15–19) are at particular risk given a smear-positive rate of 427 per 100,000 per year and the significant amount of time they spend indoors. High schools are therefore important locations for potential TB infection and thus prevention efforts. Methods and Findings Using portable carbon dioxide monitors, we measured CO2 in classrooms under non-steady state conditions. The threshold for tuberculosis transmission was estimated using a carbon dioxide-based risk equation. We determined a critical rebreathed fraction of carbon dioxide () of 1·6%, which correlates with an indoor CO2 concentration of 1000 ppm. These values correspond with a ventilation rate of 8·6 l/s per person or 12 air exchanges per hour (ACH) for standard classrooms of 180 m3. Conclusions Given the high smear positive rate of high-school adolescents in South Africa, the proposal to achieve CO2 levels of 1000ppm through natural ventilation (in the amount 12 ACH) will not only help achieve WHO guidelines for providing children with healthy indoor environments, it will also provide a low-cost intervention for helping control the TB epidemic in areas of high prevalence.

Strengthening Health Systems While Responding to a Health Crisis: Lessons Learned by a Nongovernmental Organization During the Ebola Virus Disease Epidemic in Sierra Leone

An epidemic of Ebola virus disease (EVD) beginning in 2013 has claimed an estimated 11 310 lives in West Africa. As the EVD epidemic subsides, it is important for all who participated in the emergency Ebola response to reflect on strengths and weaknesses of the response. Such reflections should take into account perspectives not usually included in peer-reviewed publications and after-action reports, including those from the public sector, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), survivors of Ebola, and Ebola-affected households and communities. In this article, we first describe how the international NGO Partners In Health (PIH) partnered with the Government of Sierra Leone and Wellbody Alliance (a local NGO) to respond to the EVD epidemic in 4 of the countrys most Ebola-affected districts. We then describe how, in the aftermath of the epidemic, PIH is partnering with the public sector to strengthen the health system and resume delivery of regular health services. PIHs experience in Sierra Leone is one of multiple partnerships with different stakeholders. It is also one of rapid deployment of expatriate clinicians and logistics personnel in health facilities largely deprived of health professionals, medical supplies, and physical infrastructure required to deliver health services effectively and safely. Lessons learned by PIH and its partners in Sierra Leone can contribute to the ongoing discussion within the international community on how to ensure emergency preparedness and build resilient health systems in settings without either.

Minimally Symptomatic Infection in an Ebola ‘Hotspot’: A Cross-Sectional Serosurvey

Introduction Evidence for minimally symptomatic Ebola virus (EBOV) infection is limited. During the 2013–16 outbreak in West Africa, it was not considered epidemiologically relevant to published models or projections of intervention effects. In order to improve our understanding of the transmission dynamics of EBOV in humans, we investigated the occurrence of minimally symptomatic EBOV infection in quarantined contacts of reported Ebola virus disease cases in a recognized ‘hotspot.’ Methodology/Principal Findings We conducted a cross-sectional serosurvey in Sukudu, Kono District, Sierra Leone, from October 2015 to January 2016. A blood sample was collected from 187 study participants, 132 negative controls (individuals with a low likelihood of previous exposure to Ebola virus), and 30 positive controls (Ebola virus disease survivors). IgG responses to Ebola glycoprotein and nucleoprotein were measured using Alpha Diagnostic International ELISA kits with plasma diluted at 1:200. Optical density was read at 450 nm (subtracting OD at 630nm to normalize well background) on a ChroMate 4300 microplate reader. A cutoff of 4.7 U/mL for the anti-GP ELISA yielded 96.7% sensitivity and 97.7% specificity in distinguishing positive and negative controls. We identified 14 seropositive individuals not known to have had Ebola virus disease. Two of the 14 seropositive individuals reported only fever during quarantine while the remaining 12 denied any signs or symptoms during quarantine. Conclusions/Significance By using ELISA to measure Zaire Ebola virus antibody concentrations, we identified a significant number of individuals with previously undetected EBOV infection in a ‘hotspot’ village in Sierra Leone, approximately one year after the village outbreak. The findings provide further evidence that Ebola, like many other viral infections, presents with a spectrum of clinical manifestations, including minimally symptomatic infection. These data also suggest that a significant portion of Ebola transmission events may have gone undetected during the outbreak. Further studies are needed to understand the potential risk of transmission and clinical sequelae in individuals with previously undetected EBOV infection.

Evolution of HIV treatment guidelines in high- and low-income countries: converging recommendations.

Over the past 15 years, antiretroviral treatment guidelines for HIV infection have evolved significantly, reflecting the major advances in this therapeutic area. Evidenced-based recommendations have largely replaced expert opinion, while diagnostic monitoring and therapeutic interventions have become more sophisticated and effective. Just 10 years ago, there was a marked difference in access to antiretroviral therapy for patients in wealthy and impoverished countries. The increasing availability of therapy across the globe, however, has made it possible for international guidelines to resemble more closely those in high-income countries. This article compares the evolution of antiretroviral therapy treatment guidelines from the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the World Health Organization, focusing on when to initiate ART in asymptomatic patients and in those with an opportunistic infection; initial regimens in the general population and in special populations; when to change and what to change; and laboratory monitoring.

Host community perspectives on trainees participating in short‐term experiences in global health

High‐income country (HIC) trainees are undertaking global health experiences in low‐ and middle‐income country (LMIC) host communities in increasing numbers. Although the benefits for HIC trainees are well described, the benefits and drawbacks for LMIC host communities are not well captured.

Transient facial swellings in a patient with a remote African travel history.

We present a case of Loa loa infection in a patient, 21 years after visiting an endemic area for only 4 days. To our knowledge, this case represents the longest time for the diagnosis of loiasis to be made post-exposure in a traveler and emphasizes that even short exposures can place travelers at risk.

The Ebola suspect's dilemma

In 1950, Merrill Flood and Melvin Dresher of the RAND Corporation developed a theoretical model of cooperation and confl ict, which was later formalised by Albert W Tucker as the prisoner’s dilemma. This model represents a situation in which two prisoners each have the option to confess or not, but their sentencing outcomes depend crucially on the simultaneous choice of the other (fi gure). Fittingly, it has become the paradigmatic example of individual versus group rationality and is an often used heuristic when conveying introductory social theory to students. Although not a homologous predicament, the Ebola virus disease suspect also faces a consequential dilemma (fi gure). The ‘rational’—that is, not informed by superstition or baseless rumour—aversion to West Africa’s ill-equipped and poorly sanitised hospitals was described even before the 2014–16 Ebola outbreak. This characterisation could a fortiori be extended to those Ebola virus disease suspects who eschewed presentation to an Ebola treatment unit, especially those units that off ered little in the way of aggressive intravenous resuscitation or management of electrolyte disturbances. Consider the situation in which you are an Ebola virus disease suspect (you have fever, vomiting, muscle pain, and headache), but don’t know whether you have Ebola virus disease: (1) if you have undiagnosed malaria and stay at home, your chance of dying is 0·2%; (2) if you have undiagnosed malaria and go to an Ebola treatment unit, your chance of dying from Ebola virus disease is 16·1% (around 25% chance of nosocomial Ebola virus transmission with 64·3% mortality); or (3) if you have Ebola virus disease, stay at home, and self-isolate, your chance of dying is 70·8%. Given equal chances of having malaria (West Africa is the region with the world’s highest incidence of malaria) or Ebola virus disease, your overall mortality risk for staying at home is 35·5% versus 40·2% for going to a Ebola treatment unit. Thus, you would be acting in your rational self-interest by staying at home, since the suspect who is uninfected might become so nosocomially through ambulance transport with actual cases or unsafe triage at an Ebola treatment unit—not factoring in (1) rational desires to die at home rather than in (or in the queue in front of) a far off tent; (2) rational fears that you might never see your family again; (3) rational responses to the pervasive messaging that Ebola has no cure; or (4) the irony that, once admitted to an Ebola treatment unit that does not off er intravenous volume replacement, a rational decision might be to deliberately infect yourself with malaria: emerging evidence suggests that Plasmodium parasitemia off ers a greater survival benefi t than the oral rehydration approach used at many Ebola treatment units in 2014. And therein lies the Ebola suspect’s dilemma—at least according to the rational choice lens that refracts the world around us into binary options for our moral retinas. Now consider a Special Report by the WHO Ebola Response Team. In it, the authors rightly—if not tautologically—suggest that shortening the delay to isolation of Ebola virus disease suspects would lead to quicker overall outbreak containment, yet they fail to adequately discuss the reality that suspects will continue to be “unwilling to seek medical care,” when such care is non-existent. Indeed, our extensive interviews with survivors of Ebola virus disease and their families reveal—among a variety of reasons for Ebola treatment unit avoidance early in the outbreak—the common suggestion that international non-governmental organisations in future epidemics not be allowed to set up Ebola treatment units if they do not provide intravenous resuscitation as standard of care. Conversely, if Ebola suspects maximise their chances of survival (by staying at home in the case above), they risk—according to the methodological individualist

Prioritizing Healthcare Delivery in a Conflict Zone; Comment on “TB/HIV Co-Infection Care in Conflict-Affected Settings: A Mapping of Health Facilities in the Goma Area, Democratic Republic of Congo”

Nowhere are the barriers to a functional health infrastructure more clearly on display than in the Goma region of Democratic Republic of Congo. Kaboru et al. report poorly integrated services for HIV and TB in this war-torn region. Priorities in conflict zones include provision of security, shelter, food, clean water and prevention of sexual violence. In Goma, immediate health priorities include emergency treatment of cholera, malaria, respiratory illnesses, provision of maternal care, millions of measles vaccinations, and management of an ongoing rabies epidemic. It is a daunting task to determine an essential package of medical services in a setting where there are so many competing priorities, where opportunity costs are limited and epidemiologic information is scarce. Non-governmental agencies sometimes add to the challenge via an insidious reduction of state sovereignty and the creation of new levels of income inequality. Kaboru et al. have successfully highlighted many of the complexities of rebuilding and prioritizing healthcare in a conflict zone.