Patterns of HIV prevalence among injecting drug users in the cross-border area of Lang Son Province, Vietnam, and Ning Ming County, Guangxi Province, China

BACKGROUND: To assess patterns of injecting drug use and HIV prevalence among injecting drug users (IDUs) in an international border area along a major heroin trans-shipment route. METHODS: Cross-sectional surveys of IDUs in 5 sites in Lang Son Province, Vietnam (n = 348) and 3 sites in Ning Ming County, Guangxi Province, China (n = 308). Respondents were recruited through peer referral ("snowball") methods in both countries, and also from officially recorded lists of IDUs in Vietnam. A risk behavior questionnaire was administered and HIV counseling and testing conducted. RESULTS: Participants in both countries were largely male, in their 20s, and unmarried. A majority of subjects in both countries were members of ethnic minority groups. There were strong geographic gradients for length of drug injecting and for HIV seroprevalence. Both mean years injecting and HIV seroprevalence declined from the Vietnamese site farthest from the border to the Chinese site farthest from the border. 10.6% of participants in China and 24.5% of participants in Vietnam reported crossing the international border in the 6 months prior to interview. Crossing the border by IDUs was associated with (1) distance from the border, (2) being a member of an ethnic minority group, and (3) being HIV seropositive among Chinese participants. CONCLUSION: Reducing the international spread of HIV among IDUs will require programs at the global, regional, national, and "local cross border" levels. At the local cross border level, the programs should be coordinated on both sides of the border and on a sufficient scale that IDUs will be able to readily obtain clean injection equipment on the other side of the border as well as in their country of residence

Isolation and molecular characterization of extended-spectrum β-lactamase producing Escherichia coli from industrial food animals in Mekong Delta, Vietnam

The aim of this study was to investigate if extended-spectrum β-lactamase producing Escherichia coli (ESBL-EC) is present in intestinal tracts of apparently healthy broiler chickens at large-scale chicken farm and pigs, and their environments in Vietnam. ESBL-EC was isolated from 86.7% cloacal swabs of chickens (13 out of 15), 55.0% rectal swabs of pigs (11 out of 20) and 100% from their surroundings (2 beddings in a chicken farm and 2 drainages in pig farms). All the isolates from chicken and pig farms were multidrug-resistant. Interestingly, 94.7% (36/38) isolates from chicken were resistant to ciprofloxacin and mcr-1 gene-positive (related to colistin resistance), respectively, while ciprofloxacin resistance and mcr-1 gene was found in only 12.8% (5/39) and none (0/39) from pig, respectively. CTX-M type in most of the chicken isolates belonged to group-1 whereas that in the pig isolates belonged to group-9. Virulence gene profiling revealed that some of these isolates indeed carry eae or astA pathogenic genes. Plasmid profiling and PFGE analysis indicated that most of them showed various genotypes although some isolates showed nearly identical genotype, suggesting that a number of ESBL-EC with various genotypes were distributed in chickens and pigs in Mekong Delta. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report regarding isolation of ESBL-EC from broiler chickens in large scale-farms and pigs in Vietnam. Taken together, these results suggest that chickens and pigs in Mekong Delta, Vietnam used for food industry could also serve as reservoirs of ESBL-EC isolates carrying virulence genes

Silver and Gold Nanoparticles from Limnophila rugosa Leaves: Biosynthesis, Characterization, and Catalytic Activity in Reduction of Nitrophenols

This study describes a simple green method for the synthesis of Limnophila rugosa leaf-extract-capped silver and gold nanoparticles without using any expensive toxic reductant or stabilizer. The noble metal nanoparticles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), and dynamic light scattering (DLS) method. It has been found that the biosynthesized silver and gold nanoparticles are nearly spherical in shape with a mean particle size distribution of 87.5 nm and 122.8 nm, respectively. XRD and SAED patterns confirmed the crystalline nanostructure of the metal nanoparticles. FTIR spectra revealed the functional groups of biomolecules presented in the extract possibly responsible for reducing metallic ions and stabilizing formed nanoparticles. The biosynthesized metal nanoparticles have potential application in catalysis. Compared to previous reports, Limnophila rugosa leaf-extract-capped silver and gold nanoparticles exhibited a good catalytic activity in the reduction of several derivatives of nitrophenols including 1,4-dinitrobenzene, 2-nitrophenol, 3-nitrophenol, and 4-nitrophenol

Patterns of HIV prevalence among injecting drug users in the cross-border area of Lang Son Province, Vietnam, and Ning Ming County, Guangxi Province, China

Abstract Background To assess patterns of injecting drug use and HIV prevalence among injecting drug users (IDUs) in an international border area along a major heroin trans-shipment route. Methods Cross-sectional surveys of IDUs in 5 sites in Lang Son Province, Vietnam (n = 348) and 3 sites in Ning Ming County, Guangxi Province, China (n = 308). Respondents were recruited through peer referral ("snowball") methods in both countries, and also from officially recorded lists of IDUs in Vietnam. A risk behavior questionnaire was administered and HIV counseling and testing conducted. Results Participants in both countries were largely male, in their 20s, and unmarried. A majority of subjects in both countries were members of ethnic minority groups. There were strong geographic gradients for length of drug injecting and for HIV seroprevalence. Both mean years injecting and HIV seroprevalence declined from the Vietnamese site farthest from the border to the Chinese site farthest from the border. 10.6% of participants in China and 24.5% of participants in Vietnam reported crossing the international border in the 6 months prior to interview. Crossing the border by IDUs was associated with (1) distance from the border, (2) being a member of an ethnic minority group, and (3) being HIV seropositive among Chinese participants. Conclusion Reducing the international spread of HIV among IDUs will require programs at the global, regional, national, and "local cross border" levels. At the local cross border level, the programs should be coordinated on both sides of the border and on a sufficient scale that IDUs will be able to readily obtain clean injection equipment on the other side of the border as well as in their country of residence.</p

Controlling HIV Epidemics among Injection Drug Users: Eight Years of Cross-Border HIV Prevention Interventions in Vietnam and China

<div><h3>Introduction</h3><p>HIV in Vietnam and Southern China is driven by injection drug use. We have implemented HIV prevention interventions for IDUs since 2002–2003 in Lang Son and Ha Giang Provinces, Vietnam and Ning Ming County (Guangxi), China.</p> <h3>Methods</h3><p>Interventions provide peer education and needle/syringe distribution. Evaluation employed serial cross-sectional surveys of IDUs 26 waves from 2002 to 2011, including interviews and HIV testing. Outcomes were HIV risk behaviors, HIV prevalence and incidence. HIV incidence estimation used two methods: 1) among new injectors from prevalence data; and 2) a capture enzyme immunoassay (BED testing) on all HIV+ samples.</p> <h3>Results</h3><p>We found significant declines in drug-related risk behaviors and sharp reductions in HIV prevalence among IDUs (Lang Son from 46% to 23% [p<0.001], Ning Ming: from 17% to 11% [p = 0.003], and Ha Giang: from 51% to 18% [p<0.001]), reductions not experienced in other provinces without such interventions. There were significant declines in HIV incidence to low levels among new injectors through 36–48 months, then some rebound, particularly in Ning Ming, but BED-based estimates revealed significant reductions in incidence through 96 months.</p> <h3>Discussion</h3><p>This is one of the longest studies of HIV prevention among IDUs in Asia. The rebound in incidence among new injectors may reflect sexual transmission. BED-based estimates may overstate incidence (because of false-recent results in patients with long-term infection or on ARV treatment) but adjustment for false-recent results and survey responses on duration of infection generally confirm BED-based incidence trends. Combined trends from the two estimation methods show sharp declines in incidence to low levels. The significant downward trends in all primary outcome measures indicate that the Cross-Border interventions played an important role in bringing HIV epidemics among IDUs under control. The Cross-Border project offers a model of HIV prevention for IDUs that should be considered for large-scale replication.</p> </div

HIV prevalence trend among IDUs.

<p>HIV prevalence trend among IDUs.</p

HIV Incidence Estimates by 3 Methods.

1<p>During this period, a Peer-Driven Intervention was being implemented; by the 24-month survey, the intervention had been changed to a peer outreach model.</p

HIV Incidence Estimates by 2 Methods with 95% Confidence Intervals.

<p>HIV Incidence Estimates by 2 Methods with 95% Confidence Intervals.</p