Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome in an AIDS patient with acute renal failure and hypertension

Introduction: The posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a neurological entity characterized by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evidence of bilateral subcortical edema in the occipital regions of the brain. Case report: We report the case of a female patient with AIDS, pulmonary aspergillosis, CMV infection, and acute renal failure due to Clostridium difficile diarrhea. Her clinical course was complicated by seizures and hypertension. MRI findings were consistent with PRES. The patient was treated with anticonvulsants and antihypertensive agents with clinical improvement. Discussion and conclusions: Few cases of PRES in HIV-infected patients have been described, and it is not clear whether HIV infection is a predisposing factor for this syndrome. The article reviews the literature on PRES in HIV and discusses the role of HIV-associated endothelial damage in the pathogenesis of this syndrome

Hepatitis C Virus as a Possible Helper Virus in Human Hepatitis Delta Virus Infection

Previous studies reported that the hepatitis C virus (HCV) could help disseminate the hepatitis D virus (HDV) in vivo through the unrelated hepatitis B virus (HBV), but with essentially inconclusive results. To try to shed light on this still-debated topic, 146 anti-HCV-positive subjects (of whom 91 HCV/HIV co-infected, and 43 with prior HCV eradication) were screened for anti-HDV antibodies (anti-HD), after careful selection for negativity to any serologic or virologic marker of current or past HBV infection. One single HCV/HIV co-infected patient (0.7%) tested highly positive for anti-HD, but with no positive HDV-RNA. Her husband, in turn, was a HCV/HIV co-infected subject with a previous contact with HBV. While conducting a thorough review of the relevant literature, the authors attempted to exhaustively describe the medical history of both the anti-HD-positive patient and her partner, believing it to be the key to dissecting the possible complex mechanisms of HDV transmission from one subject to another, and speculating that in the present case, it may have been HCV itself that behaved as an HDV helper virus. In conclusion, this preliminary research, while needing further validation in large prospective studies, provided some further evidence of a role of HCV in HDV dissemination in humans

Factors associated with hospital admission for COVID-19 in HIV patients

: This study reports on hospital admission and outcomes of 69 HIV-infected subjects who were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection between February and May 2020, in a network of Italian centers. Patients' characteristics and median days between symptoms and diagnosis were similar by hospital admission, whereas admitted patients were had lower nadir CD4 cells and current lymphocytes count. These values were also correlated to worse COVID-19 outcome. Antiretroviral drugs did not seem associated with disease severity

People with HIV pioneers of injectable cabotegravir and rilpivirine long acting in Italy: who are they?

Injectable cabotegravir and rilpivirine long-acting therapy is a revolutionary new antiretroviral treatment (ART) option for HIV infection in virologically suppressed adults on a stable ART. The aim of this study from SCOLTA multicenter observational prospective database is to describe the first people living with HIV (PWH) who started this regimen in Italy, assessing adherence to eligibility criteria, describing clinical-epidemiological characteristics compared to registration trials-population and describe early treatment-discontinuations

Infective Endocarditis in People Who Inject Drugs: Report from the Italian Registry of Infective Endocarditis

Intravenous drug use is a predisposing condition for infective endocarditis (IE). We report the clinical features of IE, taken from the Italian Registry of IE, in people who inject drugs (PWIDs). The registry prospectively collected epidemiological, clinical, in-hospital, and follow-up data on patients with IE from 17 Italian centers. A total of 677 patients were enrolled, and 61 (9%) were intravenous drug users (IDUs). Most PWIDs were male (78.6%), and aged between 41 and 50 years old (50%). The most frequent comorbidities were HIV (34.4%) and chronic liver disease (32%). Predisposing factors for IE were present in 6.5% of the patients, and 10% had minor valvular abnormalities. IE had occurred previously in 16.4% of the patients, and 50% of them had undergone heart surgery. Overall mortality was 9.8% in IDUs and 20% in patients with recurrent IE. IE in PWIDs mostly affected the native valves (90%). The echocardiographic diagnosis of IE was based on the detection of vegetation in 91.82% of cases. Staphylococcus aureus was the main microorganism isolated (70%) from blood cultures. Thirty patients (49%) underwent heart surgery: thirteen had aortic valves, eleven had mitral valves, and six had tricuspid valve interventions. IE in PWIDs was relatively common, and patients with native valve right-sided IE had a better prognosis, with a low rate of surgical interventions