AIDS

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the number of patients hospitalized for HIV-related reasons in France, to describe their characteristics and to estimate hospitalization-associated costs. DESIGN: A retrospective analysis of the French hospital medical information database (Programme de medicalisation des systemes d'information en medecine, chirurgie, obstetrique et odontologie database). METHODS: Patients hospitalised with HIV in France in 2013 and 2014 were identified in the database through International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision diagnostic codes as well as comorbidities and opportunistic infections. Hospital stays for each patient were extracted over a 12-month period following the initial index hospitalization. Costing was performed from the perspective of national health insurance. Direct costs were attributed from national tariffs for medical acts and expressed in 2016 Euros. RESULTS: During the study period, 70 180 stays, including day (80%) and overnight (20%) hospitalization, of patients with HIV were identified, of which 37 477 stays (by 20 126 patients) were directly related to HIV. In patients with overnight hospitalization, an opportunistic infection was documented in 50% of patients and at least one comorbidity were identified in 85% of patients. The overall estimated total annual cost of hospital stays was &OV0556; 64 126 616 (median annual cost per patient: &OV0556; 545). The median annual per capita cost was &OV0556; 541 for day hospitalization, &OV0556; 7664 for overnight stay with comorbidities and &OV0556; 9059 for overnight stay with opportunistic infections. CONCLUSION: Most patients hospitalised with HIV in France presented an opportunistic infection or at least 1 comorbidity that contributed to costs of hospitalization. The organization of interfaces between different healthcare providers in hospital and community practice needs to be organized so that comorbidities are identified and managed optimally

COPEDOL: A Two-Year Observational Study in Pretreated HIV-1-infected Patients Switching to a Dolutegravir-Based Regimen

International audienc

Town and Country in the Southern Carmel: Report on the Landscape Archaeology Project at Dor (LAPD)

This report deals with the results of a project of landscape archaeology in the hinterland of Tel Dor (Tanturah) in the northern coastal plain of Israel. An introduction to previous research made in the region is followed by a description of the survey methods employed during the project and the characteristics of the five geographical subunits investigated (Zones I–V) The patterning of settlement remains and the chronology of landscape features forms the main part of the article, with information on changes occurring in the Dor landscape from the Chalcolithic through to Ottoman periods. Brief mention is made regarding groups of features examined, such as wells, cisterns, aqueducts, fields, oil presses, wine presses, columbaria, quarries and burial caves. Reports are given on the pottery from the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age I, the Middle Bronze Age IIA, and the Roman and Byzantine periods. Appendices also deal with Chalcolithic basalt vessels, Hellenistic stamped amphora handles, Ottoman copper lids and a nineteenth-century Arabic inscription from Tanturah

Surveillance Network for Herpes Simplex Virus Resistance to Antiviral Drugs: 3-Year Follow-Up

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections are very common in the general population and among immunocompromised patients. Acyclovir (ACV) is an effective treatment which is widely used. We deemed it essential to conduct a wide and coordinated survey of the emergence of ACV-resistant HSV strains . We have formed a network of 15 virology laboratories which have isolated and identified, between May 1999 and April 2002, HSV type 1 (HSV-1) and HSV-2 strains among hospitalized subjects. The sensitivity of each isolate to ACV was evaluated by a colorimetric test (C. Danve, F. Morfin, D. Thouvenot, and M. Aymard, J. Virol. Methods 105:207-217, 2002). During this study, 3,900 isolated strains among 3,357 patients were collected; 55% of the patients were immunocompetent. Only six immunocompetent patients excreted ACV-resistant HSV strains (0.32%), including one female patient not treated with ACV who was infected primary by an ACV-resistant strain. Among the 54 immunocompromised patients from whom ACV-resistant HSV strains were isolated (3.5%), the bone marrow transplantation patients showed the highest prevalence of resistance (10.9%), whereas among patients infected by human immunodeficiency virus, the prevalence was 4.2%. In 38% of the cases, the patients who excreted the ACV-resistant strains were treated with foscarnet (PFA), and 61% of them developed resistance to PFA. The collection of a large number of isolates enabled an evaluation of the prevalence of resistance of HSV strains to antiviral drugs to be made. This prevalence has remained stable over the last 10 years, as much among immunocompetent patients as among immunocompromised patients