Volume 54, Issue 7, 1 April 2012

Randomized controlled trials demonstrated the efficacy of quadrivalent human papillomavirus (qHPV) in primary prevention of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and HPV-related cancers/precancerous lesions. Our study suggests that qHPV may be effective in prevention of recurrent high-grade anal neoplasia among men who have sex with men.

Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptor encephalitis rivals viral etiologies as a cause of encephalitis within the California Encephalitis Project cohort. Thus it merits a prominent place on the differential diagnosis of encephalitis, allowing for prompt treatment and recovery.

In a study of 356 adults with community-acquired pneumonia, respiratory syncytial virus was a frequent pathogen (13%). Serology and real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction improved the detection of repiratory syncytial virus. High respiratory syncytial virus serum-neutralizing antibody levels protected against severe pneumonia.

Administration of intravenous voriconazole to patients with creatinine clearance <50 mL/minute for at least 3 days did not affect renal function. Underlying disease, baseline liver impairment, and other drugs (penicillins, fluoroquinolones, pressors, immunosuppressants) were the strongest predictors of renal dysfunction.

In subjects aged 50–59 years, the zoster vaccine (ZV) significantly reduced the incidence of herpes zoster (ZV: 1.99/1000 person-years; placebo: 6.57/1000 person-years) and was well tolerated.

Enhanced sampling yielded a 232% increase of identified shedders. Here, symptomatic patients and healthcare workers (HCWs) were more often involved in transmission events than asymptomatic shedders. Asymptomatic HCWs rarely contributed to transmission, despite high levels of fecal virus shedding.

In this randomized, open-label trial of healthcare personnel previously vaccinated with acellular pertussis vaccine, noninferiority of daily symptom monitoring without postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) compared with antibiotic PEP was not demonstrated for preventing infection following pertussis exposure.

A Vero cell culture–derived seasonal influenza vaccine provides consistently high levels of protection against cell culture–confirmed infection over a complete influenza season. Influenza symptoms are also less severe and of shorter duration in individuals who become infected despite vaccination.

Invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella Typhimurium disease is a common and frequently recurrent cause of bacteremia across sub-Saharan Africa. We use high-resolution single nucleotide polymorphism analysis to distinguish between reinfection and recrudescence in disease recurrence within single individuals over time.

The Veterans Aging Cohort Study (VACS) Index, based on age and 8 routine clinical tests, is strongly correlated with 3 biomarkers of inflammation: interleukin 6 (IL-6), D-dimer, and soluble CD14 (sCD14). After adjustment for the VACS Index, D-dimer and sCD14, but not IL-6, remain independently associated with mortality.

Analysis of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 pol gene sequences from 107 patients receiving second-line antiretroviral therapy (ART) revealed that a high prevalence of resistance mutations among second-line ART-experienced patients limits the ART-sequencing options, suggesting darunavir as the third-line drug in India.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected antiretroviral therapy-naive Ugandan children with CD4 cell counts of ∼350 cells/μL and percentages of >15% have significant motor and cognitive deficits compared with HIV-uninfected children. Study of whether early initiation of treatment could prevent or reverse such deficits is needed.

In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of human immunodeficiency virus–infected youths aged 18–25, vitamin D3, 50000 IU once monthly for 3 months decreased parathyroid hormone in participants treated with tenofovir-containing antiretroviral regimens but not in those participants whose regimens did not contain tenofovir.

In a large North American cohort study, anal cancer incidence rates were substantially higher for HIV-infected men who have sex with men, other men, and women compared with HIV-uninfected individuals. Rates increased from 1996–1999 to 2000–2003 but plateaued by 2004–2007.

Although numbers of toxoplasmosis-related hospitalizations in the United States have declined since the mid-1990s, there continue to be many such hospitalizations (>3500 estimated in 2008), especially among human immunodeficiency virus–infected persons and those in racial or ethnic minority groups.

An outbreak of Pneumocystis jirovecii infections in renal transplant recipients was investigated using P. jirovecii type identification combined with analysis of patient encounters. The results suggest that colonized patients represent infectious sources in a context of nosocomial acquisition of the fungus.