HCV and HIV co-infection in pregnant women attending St. Camille Medical Centre in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso).

Five hundred and forty-seven pregnant women with less than 32 weeks of amenorrhoea, attending an antenatal clinic of St. Camille Medical Centre (SCMC) of Ouagadougou were enrolled for a hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV co-infection study. Fifty-eight (10.6%) were HIV positive and 18 (3.3%) were anti-HCV positive. Only seven pregnant women (i.e., 1.3%) had a documented HIV and HCV co-infection. HCV-RNA was found in 5 out of 18 (27.8%) patients, who had anti-HCV antibodies. The genotype analysis of these five patients showed that two were of 1b whereas three were of 2a genotype. Mother-to-infant transmission of the same HCV genotype (2a) was documented in only one case. High 1b prevalence has been reported in other parts of Africa, while 2a is the prevalent genotype (60%) in Burkina Faso. This genotype has a higher response rate to treatment. Serum transaminases were normal, also in presence of HCV-RNA. The higher than expected rate of co-infection in Burkina Faso seems to demonstrate a correlation between these two infections, which could influence the evolution of HIV and HCV diseases.

Calcium bioavailability and parathyroid hormone acute changes after oral intake of dairy and nondairy products in healthy volunteers.

This study was designed to compare calcium bioavailability and serum parathyroid hormone acute changes after oral intake of 500 mg of elemental calcium from liquid milk, yogurt, calcium-citrate-enriched powdered milk or a calcium carbonate pill; or after intake of soybean imitation-milk. After a 12-h fast, blood samples were drawn both at baseline and 1, 2, 3 and 4 h after an oral intake of the above-mentioned products, which were ingested together with a light neutral breakfast. The administration order of the study products was randomly assigned to each of 19 healthy young volunteers (11 females, 8 males). The baseline serum concentrations of ionized calcium, phosphorus and intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) were normal. Calcium-citrate-enriched powdered milk induced a significant increase in serum ionized calcium (p<0.001) and a significant and continuous decrease in serum iPTH concentration (p<0. 001). Yogurt and the calcium carbonate pill induced a similar but less significant effect, increasing serum ionized calcium (p<0.05) and decreasing serum iPTH (p<0.01). Liquid milk only induced a significant change in serum ionized calcium and iPTH concentration during the first 2 h; this effect was lost during the following 2 h. In conclusion, our study suggests the possibility that the addition of calcium citrate to powered milk may improve calcium bioavailability and enhance the inhibitory effect on serum iPTH in the assayed conditions.