The Social and Health Problems of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Izmir, Turkey

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe how AIDS, as well as the stigma associated with it, affects the lives of HIV positive patients and their family members

Improving Knowledge and Attitudes of Health Care Providers Following Training on HIV/AIDS Related Issues: A Study in an Urban Turkish Area

WOS: 000302272100014Objective: The objective of the study was to assess HIV/AIDS related knowledge, attitudes and risk perception among health care providers in Izmir. Material and Methods: A pretest and posttest patterned intervention study was conducted in 2007 among health care providers participating in a training course on HIV/AIDS and universal precautions. The participants consisted of 158 health care professionals from 7 public hospitals and 2 public dental clinics. Information was collected regarding demographic details, HIV/AIDS related knowledge, attitudes and perceptions about patients at the beginning and the end of the course. Pre- and post-training dichotomous point scale scores were compared. Results: Of the participants, 72.6 % were females. Only 30.0 % of the respondents reported a scalpel or needle stick injury at least once last year. Some of the participants (40%) thought that it was necessary to take extra infection control precautions for patients with HIV. The average pre- and post-training mean knowledge scores were 9.32 +/- 2.1 (3-13) and 12.76 +/- 2.3 (5-17), respectively. The mean pre- and post-training beliefs scores were 12.37 +/- 3.1 (3-19) and 15.57 +/- 3.8 (6-22), respectively. There were significant differences in the pre- and post-training mean scores of the responses related to attitudes toward patients with AIDS. Conclusion: There was improvement in knowledge and negative attitudes on patients with AIDS at the end of the training. The results of this study suggested that the negative attitudes of health care providers towards individuals with AIDS due to the fear of transmission and inadequate knowledge could be improved with training

The Social and Health Problems of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Izmir, Turkey

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe how AIDS, as well as the stigma associated with it, affects the lives of HIV positive patients and their family members. Materials and Methods: Three large state hospitals in the metropolitan area of Izmir participated in the study. Six focus groups were conducted with people infected with HIV (n=32) and their family members (n=11). Participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire to assess their HIV/AIDS knowledge and to convey how the stigma had affected them. Results: The most important problems identified were society and work-related social problems and access to health services. The patients and their family members stated that education was needed to correct misconceptions about HIV and to help them cope with related problems. We found that patients and their family members were sensitive about disclosure.Conclusion: We determined the education, counseling and support needs of HIV-infected patients and their families. Additionally, we found that health personnel who monitor the patients should make more efforts on patients’ education and counselling

A Case of Chickenpox Developing 11 Years after Renal Transplantation

WOS: 000514116300017In solid organ transplant recipients, it is recommended that the necessary vaccinations be completed at least 4 weeks before transplant. Chickenpox infection in adulthood can lead to serious clinical conditions such as pneumonia, hepatitis, and central nervous system infections. Herein, the case of chickenpox in a 36-year-old female patient with renal transplantation for end-stage renal disease due to vesicoureteral reflux 11 years previously and without a history of chickenpox or its vaccination before and after transplantation is reported. in this case, because of the development of thrombocytopenia associated with intravenous acyclovir, treatment was successfully concluded with oral valacyclovir

Acute Purulent Meningitis or Opportunistic Infection Due to HIV?

WOS: 00045896050000

Comparison Of Risk Category Predictions Of Framingham Risk Score (Frs), Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk Score (Ascvd), Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation (Score) And Data Collection On Adverse Events Of Anti-Hiv Drugs (D:A:D) In Hiv Infected Patients

Background Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of mortality in HIV infected patients. Agreement between commonly used risk prediction equations for classification of high-risk individuals is varied in different populations. We aimed to compare the degree of agreement of four CVD risk calculators in a multicenter cohort. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among adult HIV patients who are followed in five tertiary centers between July 2016 and February 2017. Inclusion criteria were: age 40–74 years, without known CVD and not receiving statins. All necessary information to calculate risk scores were collected during follow-up visits with a standardized form. Web-based tools for each score were used for calculations. Persons were considered at higher risk if 10-year CVD risks ≥20% with FRS-CVD, >10% with SCORE for high-risk countries, >7.5% for ASCVD, and 5 year risk ≥5% with DAD or if they had additional risk factors defined for each score for automatic high-risk stratification. Based on the interpretation of CVD risk, the patients were placed in two categories: low/medium and high/very high. Agreement between scores was assessed by Cohen’s kappa (κ) statistics. Results Of 667 patients who were active during the study period, CVD scores of 527 HIV-infected patients (82% male) were assessed. Median (interquartile range) age was 48 (43–54) years. Prevalence of CVD risk factors were: 11% family history of early-onset CVD, 50% current smokers, 57% overweight or obese, 22% hypertension, and 8% diabetes mellitus. The prevalence of high CVD scores or risk equivalents was high ranging from 20.3% to 36.3%. The DAD-full, DAD-reduced, ASCVD and SCORE had 83.9%, 85%, 83.5% and 93.2% agreement compared with the FRS-CVD (κ = 0.55, 0.59, 0.61 and 0.80), respectively. European AIDS Clinical Society, European Society of Cardiology, Adult Treatment Panel-III and 2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines would recommend statin therapy for 35.1%, 21.8%, 31.9% and 36.4% of patients, respectively. Conclusion We found moderate/substantial agreement among risk prediction tools evaluated in this study. Agreement was high for lower scores and at higher ages. Whether those scores accurately estimate risk at population level needs further evaluation. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.PubMe

Evaluation of patients with zygomycosis

Aim: Zygomycosis is a severe angioinvasive infection caused by Zygomycetes. We retrospectively investigated 16 cases of zygomycosis