Prevalence and factors associated with idiopathic hypercalciuria in HIV patients on combination antiretroviral therapy.

Idiopathic hypercalciuria may lead to bone loss via three pathogenic mechanisms described in HIV-negative patients: intestinal hyperabsorption, kidney loss and bone hyperabsorption. We conducted a cross-sectional study in a cohort of 217 HIV-positive antiretroviral-experienced patients, identifying hypercalciuria in 67 patients: the prevalence was 30.9% (95% confidence interval 27.4-37.0). The occurrence of hypercalciuria in subjects with normal values of parathormone may indicate an absorptive form of hypercalciuria. In this sample, other bone turnover markers and T-scores were not related to the condition. The results of this study show a high prevalence of idiopathic hypercalciuria in a group of antiretroviral-experienced patients. The consequences and the exact causes of this metabolic complication are not yet known and further investigation is needed.

Cardiovascular risk factors and ultrasound evaluation of carotid atherosclerosis in patients with HIV-1 infection.

A cross-sectional study was performed to evaluate classical risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and subclinical atherosclerosis by carotid ultrasonography in HIV-positive subjects, naïve or treated with antiretroviral agents. A total of 66 patients were enrolled into the study: 21 subjects were naïve to all antiretroviral agents (group A) and 45 patients were treated with antiretroviral therapy for >or=36 months (group B). The prevalence of carotid plaques was significantly higher in group B than in group A (44.7% versus 0%; P = 0.014). In group B, patients with high 10-year risk of coronary heart disease showed a significantly higher intima-media thickness and prevalence of carotid lesions than those with low risk. Moreover, carotid lesions were structurally comparable to classical atherosclerotique plaques observed in the general population, with iso-hyperechonegic aspects and irregular surfaces. The prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis in experienced patients is higher than in those naïve to highly active antiretroviral therapy and seems mostly associated with a longer duration of HIV infection, more severe lipid metabolism alterations, presence of lipodystrophy syndrome and a more elevated 10-year risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Measles outbreak in the city of Bologna, December 2007 to May 2008.

Several outbreaks of measles were reported after the year 2006 in various Italian regions, including Piemonte, Lombardy, Tuscany, Veneto and Emilia Romagna. Most reported cases occurred in the Piemonte region where a major outbreak began in September 2007 among a group of unvaccinated adolescents. This report is a preliminary description of the main epidemiological, clinical and laboratory features of 26 confirmed cases of measles diagnosed at the Institute of Infectious Diseases of the S. Orsola Hospital in Bologna in the northern Italian region of Emilia Romagna between December 2007 and May 2008.

Abacavir-induced reaction with fever and severe skin rash in a patient tested human leukocyte antigen-B*5701 negative.

The most serious adverse event caused by abacavir is the hypersensitivity reaction, which is usually associated with the presence of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) subtype B*5701, as shown in recent studies. We describe the case of a 41-year-old Caucasian female patient, who tested HLA-B*5701 negative and developed fever and severe skin rash 10 weeks after the start of abacavir therapy. Similar reports suggest that not all severe abacavir-induced adverse events occur as a result of classic hypersensitivity reactions, and can present also in HLA-B*5701-negative patients.

Efficacy and tolerability of a fosamprenavir-ritonavir-based versus a lopinavir-ritonavir-based antiretroviral treatment in 82 therapy-naïve patients with HIV-1 infection.

Recent data indicate that fosamprenavir/ritonavir as part of an initial antiretroviral regimen in HIV-1-infected patients is associated with favourable efficacy and tolerability and in the KLEAN study (kaletra versus lexiva with epivir and abacavir in antiretroviral-naive patients) it was found to be non-inferior to lopinavir/ritonavir in association with abacavir/lamivudine. In our open-label, observational study conducted in 82 therapy-nasmall yi, Ukrainianve HIV-1-infected patients followed-up for 18 months, virological and immunological efficacy was comparable in subjects receiving a fosamprenavir/ritonavir-based and a lopinavir/ritonavir-based treatment (proportions of patients with HIV RNA <50 copies/mL at month 18 were 76.9% and 74.4%, respectively, when discontinuations were counted as failures). At the same time, frequency of treatment discontinuations and adverse events were similar in both groups, whereas incidence of diarrhoea and hypertriglyceridaemia was significantly higher in lopinavir-treated patients than in fosamprenavir-treated ones (53.5% vs. 25.6% and 69.8% vs. 43.6%, respectively; P < 0.01). In subjects with virological failure, no viral protease resistance mutations were detected by genotype analysis.