Nayana Ingole

Transmitted HIV Drug Resistance Among HIV-Infected Voluntary Counseling and Testing Centers (VCTC) Clients in Mumbai, India

A survey for transmitted HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) was conducted according to WHO guidelines among clients newly diagnosed with HIV-1 infection at two voluntary counseling and testing centers (VCTC) in Mumbai. HIVDR testing was performed using the ViroSeq RT-PCR method (Abbott). Out of 50 successfully amplified and sequenced specimens, analysis of the first 34 consecutively collected specimens revealed no nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, or protease inhibitor mutations from the 2007 WHO list of mutations for surveillance of transmitted HIVDR, indicating that the prevalence of transmitted HIVDR to all three drug classes was <5% among recently infected VCTC clients in Mumbai. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that all samples belonged to HIV-1 subtype C. Continued ART program monitoring and further evaluation of transmitted HIV drug resistance in coming years are essential in Mumbai as well as in other regions of the country in which ART is being scaled up rapidly.

Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) Infection in Liver Disease Patients in Mumbai, India with Special Reference to Hepatitis B Surface Antigen (HBsAg) Mutant Detection.

OBJECTIVES To determine the prevalence of Hepatitis B Surface antigen (HBsAg) in patients attending the Hepatology Out Patient Department (OPD) of a tertiary care hospital and to compare the routinely used HBsAg detection kit with the mutant detection kit to find out the presence of mutants in a given setting. MATERIALS AND METHODS A cross-sectional study was carried out in adult patients with liver disease attending the Hepatology OPD, of a tertiary care hospital in Mumbai, India. Age, gender and clinical history of the patient were recorded. Blood specimen was tested for HBsAg (Microscreen(TM) ELISA, Span diagnostics, India) and HBsAg mutants (Hepanostika HBsAg Ultra(TM) ELISA, Biomerieux, France). The samples with discordant results between these two ELISAs were confirmed by Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) (Cobas Taqman(TM), Roche Molecular Systems, USA). RESULTS Seven hundred and eighteen patients were enrolled in the study. The mean age of patients in the study group was 41 years (range 17 to 69 years). Four hundred and ninety seven (69.22%) were males and remaining were females. The prevalence of HBsAg was found to be 17.4%. The positivity amongst the male population was 18.1% which was higher than the female population (15.8%). Of the 718 samples tested, 120 were positive for HBsAg by Microscreen(TM) ELISA and 132 were positive by Hepanostika HBsAg ultra(TM). Of the 12 discordant samples, HBV DNA was detected in five samples indicating 0.7% prevalence of mutants. CONCLUSION Hepatitis B is prevalent in liver disease patients. The mutant detecting assay is recommended in set-ups where missing HBsAg in patients would have tremendous impact on the outcome such as in blood donors, organ or tissue donors and antenatal screening of mothers. It is also helpful in chronic liver disease patients where the routine HBsAg detection test is negative and the other causes of chronic liver disease have been ruled out. However, it is not recommended for use in routine diagnostic set-ups where high false positivity would lead to over-diagnosis of the condition.

Monitoring HIV Epidemic in Pregnant Women: Are the Current Measures Enough?

Introduction. Burden of HIV in pregnant women follows overall epidemic in India. Hence, it is imperative that prevalence calculations in this group be accurate. The present study was carried out to determine prevalence of HIV in pregnant women attending our hospital, to determine trend of HIV infection and to compare our results with reported prevalence. Methods. All pregnant women are routinely counselled for HIV testing using opt-out strategy. Year-wise positivity and trend were determined in these patients over a period of five years. The positivity in different age groups was determined. Results. 31,609 women were tested of which 279 (0.88%) were positive. Positivity showed a declining trend over study period and significant quadratic trend (biphasic, P < 0.05) was observed. The positivity in older age group ≥35 years (1.64%) was significantly more than younger age groups (0.76% in 15–24-year and 0.94% in 25–34-year age group) (P = 0.0052). Conclusion. A significant decline in HIV positivity was seen over the study period. Taking into account heterogeneous nature of HIV epidemic even within the same district, analysis at local levels especially using the prevention of parent to child transmission of HIV program data is critical for HIV programming and resource allocation.

HIV-2 infection: Where are we today?

Context: The choice of antiretroviral therapy for HIV-2 differs from that for HIV-1, underscoring the importance of differentiating between the two. Aims: The current study was planned to find out the prevalence of HIV-2 infection at our center and to find out the utility of the current diagnostic algorithm in identifying the type of HIV infection. Setting and Design: Retrospective analysis in a tertiary care teaching institute over a period of three years. Materials and Methods: All patients diagnosed as HIV infected using NACO/WHO HIV testing strategy III were included in the study. They were classified as HIV-1 infected, HIV-2 infected and HIV-1 and HIV-2 co-infected based on their test results. For discordant samples, immunoblotting result from National Reference Laboratory was considered as final. Statistical Analysis Used: Comparison between HIV-1, HIV-2 and HIV-1+2 positive groups for age, gender, route of transmission was made using chi squared test. P value < 0.05 was considered as significant. Results: Of the total of 66,708 patients tested, 5,238 (7.9%) were positive for HIV antibodies. 7.62%, 0.14%, 0.08% and 0.004% were HIV-1, HIV-2, HIV-1 and HIV-2 co-infected and HIV type indeterminate (HIV-1 Indeterminate, 2+) respectively. The current algorithm could not differentiate between the types of HIV infection (as HIV-1 or HIV-2) in 63 (1.2%) cases. Conclusion: In areas like the Indian subcontinent, where epidemic of both HIV-1 and HIV-2 infections are ongoing, it is important to modify the current diagnostic algorithms to diagnose and confirm HIV-2 infections.

Profiles of HIV-infected anti-retroviral therapy naïve children from Mumbai, India

BackgroundThis study aimed to investigate the demographic profiles of human immunodifficiency virus (HIV) infected anti-retroviral therapy (ART) naïve children in our hospital and their relations to the clinical, immunological and nutritional status.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in an Integrated Counselling and Testing Center (ICTC) at a tertiary care hospital in Mumbai. ART naïve HIV positive children were enrolled in the study. The demographic profiles, clinical features, immunological (CD4%/CD4 count) and nutritional status of these children were recorded. The agreement between clinical, immunological and nutritional staging was determined using Cohen’s kappa test.ResultsIn 192 HIV-infected ART naive children enrolled with a median age of 9 years (range 3 months-14 years), 97.4% acquired infection through vertical transmission. The most common clinical presentation was fever (39.6 %), followed by generalized lymphadenopathy (32.3%), cough (22.4%) and diarrhoea (9.9%). Tuberculosis was seen in 22.9% of the children. The agreement was fair between clinical and immunological staging, and slight between nutritional, immunological and clinical staging.ConclusionPerinatal transmission is the most common mode of acquiring HIV infection in children. The Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission (PPTCT) program should be strengthened for lowering the transmission rate by providing extended ART to mothers during pregnancy and breast-feeding. Tuberculosis remains a major concern in HIV-infected children. The poor correlation between WHO clinical and immunological staging emphasizes the importance of making CD4 facilities available in HIV prevalent areas. Malnutrition cannot be used as a surrogate marker for predicting stage or severity as it is common at all stages of HIV disease.

CD4 counts in laboratory monitoring of HIV disease--experience from western India.

Background: CD4 counts vary in different populations. The present study was conducted to determine CD4 counts in different World Health Organization (WHO) clinical stages in antiretroviral therapy naïve individuals and to find out optimum CD4 cutoffs. Method: Data of adult HIV seropositive patients who underwent CD4 count and total lymphocyte count (TLC) testing were included for analysis. The severity of immunosuppression was graded based on WHO criteria. To establish optimum CD4 cutoff values, receiver–operator characteristics (ROC) curves were generated. Results: Of 754 patients, 52.2% had CD4 counts <200 cells/mm3, but only 2.3% belonged to WHO stage IV. Newer CD4 cutoffs generated were 280, 120-280, <120 cells/mm3. Spearman rank correlation between CD4 counts and TLC was found to be weak (r = .32). Conclusion: The cutoff values of CD4 counts for HIV disease may need to be revised for India. Regular CD4 count estimation is a must for monitoring disease progression in people living with HIV/AIDS.

Demographic profile of HIV sero positive clients attending integrated counseling and testing centre, Mumbai, India.

Introduction: HIV testing and counseling is associated with reduction in risk behavior. Not all persons who receive pretest counseling and testing return for posttest counseling. Hence, it is imperative to identify positive clients when they first come for testing. Objectives: To determine demographic profile of HIV positive clients visiting our centre. Methods: Data obtained by HIV testing of clients from January 2012 to December 2012 was analyzed. Age, gender, education, occupation and marital status were evaluated as independent variables. Analysis consisted of descriptive data of frequency tables, means, confidence intervals and multinomial logistic regression analysis. Results: A total of 14,239 individuals were tested for HIV antibodies. Eight samples were excluded from analysis. 987(6.94%) samples tested positive. As compared to individuals with age above 50 years, those in the age group of 35-49 and 25-34 years had 2.6 and 1.4 times more chance of being positive respectively. Males had 1.6 times more chance of being positive than females. Non-literate had 2.2 times more chance of being positive than individuals who had education more than 10th standard. Daily wage workers from the low socio economic group had 1.5 times more chance of being positive than housewives. As compared to married individuals, divorcee/separated and widow/er had more than four times chance of being positive. A direct walk in client had 12 times more chance of being positive as compared to referred patients. Conclusions: In our patient population, a direct walk in male client in the age group of 25 to 49 years who is not much educated, a daily wage worker and who is either separated/divorced/widow/er has a significantly higher risk of being positive. He should be tested, reported, counseled for behavioral change and practicing safe sex and linked to care and support program preferably on the same day.