Giovanna Maria Calia

Thyroid function in human immunodeficiency virus patients treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART): a longitudinal study

Objective  Given that few and controversial data have been reported on thyroid function in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), we further investigated whether HAART affects thyroid hormones.

Successful prevention of multidrug resistant HIV mother-to-child transmission with enfuvirtide use in late pregnancy.

Summary: The availability of antiretroviral therapy has dramatically reduced the risk of HIV mother-to-child transmission (MTCT). However, mothers infected with multidrug resistant HIV (MDR-HIV) are at increased risk of MTCT. We report the case of a pregnant patient infected with MDR-HIV in whom MTCT was avoided with enfuvirtide use in late pregnancy and elective caesarean section.

Ebola virus disease: Case management in the Institute of Infectious Diseases, University Hospital of Sassari, Sardinia, Italy.

Since the onset of the worst epidemic of Ebola virus disease in December 2013, 28,637 cases were reported as confirmed, probable, or suspected. Since the week of 3 January 2016, no more cases have been reported. The total number of deaths have amounted to 11,315 (39.5%). In developed countries, seven cases have been diagnosed: four in the United States, one in Spain, one in the United Kingdom, and one in Italy. On 20 July 2015, Italy was declared Ebola-free. On 9 May 2015, an Italian health worker came back to Italy after a long stay in Sierra Leone working for a non-governmental organization. Forty-eight hours after his arrival, he noticed headache, weakness, muscle pains, and slight fever. The following day, he was safely transported to the Infectious Diseases Unit of University Hospital of Sassari. The patient was hospitalized for 19 hours until an Italian Air Force medical division transferred him to Rome, to the Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute. Nineteen people who had contacts with the patient were monitored daily for 21 days by the Public Health Office of Sassari and none presented any symptoms. So far, neither vaccine nor treatment is available to be proposed on an international scale. Ebola is considered a re-emerging infectious disease which, unlike in the past, has been a worldwide emergency. This case study aimed to establish a discussion about the operative and logistic difficulties to be faced and about the discrepancy arising when protocols clash with the reality of facts.

The Changing Face of the HIV Epidemic in Northern Sardinia: Increased Diagnoses among Pregnant Women

Background:Combination antiretroviral therapy has reduced both HIV/AIDS related morbidity and mortality. However, while the number of new AIDS diagnosis progressively declined in Europe from 1997 to 2004, new HIV infection diagnoses showed an increase since 1998. Unfortunately, there is no national HIV reporting system in Italy, and no information is available from the South and the islands.Methods:Data on new HIV infections diagnosed in northern Sardinia between 1997 and 2004 were retrospectively collected. Thus, two four years periods (1997–2000 vs 2001–2004) were compared in order to assess changes in the characteristics of newly diagnosed individuals.Results:Overall, 156 new HIV infection diagnoses occurred during the study period, 87 (55.8%) in males and 69 (44.2%) in females. The incidence rate per 100,000 inhabitants showed a progressive decline from 1997 (5.9) to 2001 (3.3), followed by a rapid increase in 2002 (5.0) and a new decline in 2004 (3.5). Median age progressively increased over the study period, from 33 years in 1997 to 38 in 2004. Males (55.8%) were more frequently affected than females (44.2%), who showed a trend toward a slight but progressive proportional increase. With regard to the exposure category, 95 (60.9%) individuals were heterosexual contacts, 38 (24.4%) injection drug users (IDU), 17 (10.9%) homosexual men, and 6 (3.8%) not determined (ND). There was a proportional increase for homosexual men (+7.5%) and heterosexual contacts (–7.9%), while IDU showed a slight decrease ( 2.7%). Heterosexual intercourse was the main exposure category both for women (78%) and men (47.1%), but man-to-man sex increased in the last study period. IDU still accounted for 20.3% and 27.5% of the cases among women and men, respectively. An increase in the proportion of new diagnoses in pregnant women, from 8.6% to 20.6%, was also observed. All pregnant women diagnosed in the first four years period were Italian, whereas 4 of the 7 (57.1%) women diagnosed thereafter were foreigner. Finally, the proportion of new HIV diagnoses in foreigners showed a marked increase, from 2.4% to 17.6%; of them 71.4% originated from sub-Saharan Africa.Conclusions:Our results suggest that the HIV epidemic is far from being controlled in our Region. Prevention campaigns targeted to homosexual men, women and migrants are needed. Non-HIV specialists, such as gynaecologists and obstetricians, as well as general practitioners, should routinely offer HIV testing to pregnant women.