Background

Since HIV-1 RNA (viral load) testing is not routinely available in Haiti, HIV-infected patients receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) are monitored using the World Health Organization (WHO) clinical and/or immunologic criteria. Data on survival and treatment outcomes for HIV-1 infected patients who meet criteria for ART failure are limited. We conducted a retrospective study to compare survival rates for patients who experienced failure on first-line ART by clinical and/or immunologic criteria and switched to second-line ART vs. those who failed but did not switch.

Methods

Patients receiving first-line ART at the GHESKIO Center in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, who met WHO clinical and immunologic criteria for failure were identified. Survival and treatment outcomes were compared in patients who switched their ART regimen and those who did not. Cox regression analysis was used to determine predictors of mortality after failure of first-line ART.

Results

Of 3126 patients who initiated ART at the GHESKIO Center between 1 March 2003 and 31 July 2008, 482 (15%) met WHO immunologic and/or clinical criteria for failure. Among those, 195 (41%) switched to second-line ART and 287 (59%) did not. According to Kaplan–Meier survival analysis, the probability of survival to 12 months after failure of first-line ART was 93% for patients who switched to second-line ART after failure and 88% for patients who did not switch. Predictors of mortality after failure of first-line ART were weight in the lowest quartile for sex, CD4 T cell count ≤ 100, adherence < 90% at the time of failure and not switching to second-line ART.

Conclusions

Patients who failed first-line ART based on clinical and/or immunologic criteria and did not switch to second-line therapy faced a higher mortality than those who switched after failure. To decrease mortality, interventions to identify patients in whom ART may be failing earlier are needed urgently. In addition, there is a major need to optimize second-line antiretroviral regimens for improved potency, lower toxicity and greater convenience for patients.

Diarrhea in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) may cause malabsorption of medications and failure of antiretroviral therapy (ART). We prospectively evaluated human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1)-infected patients with and without chronic diarrhea initiating ART in Haiti. We report mean plasma antiretroviral concentrations at 2 and 4 weeks. We measured plasma HIV-1 RNA levels at four points. Fifty-two HIV-1-infected patients (26 matched pairs) were enrolled. No differences in antiretroviral concentrations were detected. At week 24, 18/25 (72%) cases and 16/24 (68%) controls had undetectable plasma HIV-1 RNA levels (P = 0.69). Patients with plasma HIV-1 RNA levels > 50 copies/mL at week 24 had lower early efavirenz concentrations than patients with undetectable HIV-1 RNA (2,621 ng/mL versus 5,278 ng/mL; P = 0.02). Diarrhea at ART initiation does not influence plasma concentrations of the medications evaluated. Virologic outcome at Week 24 does correlate with efavirenz concentrations early in therapy but not with the presence of chronic diarrhea.

Abstract

The safety and immunogenicity of the MRK adenovirus type 5 (Ad5) HIV-1 clade B gag vaccine was assessed in an international Phase I trial. Three-hundred and sixty healthy HIV-uninfected adults were enrolled on five continents. Subjects received placebo or 1 × 109 or 1 × 1010 viral particles (vp) per dose of the MRKAd5 HIV-1 gag vaccine at day 1, week 4, and week 26. Immunogenicity was evaluated using an IFN-γ ELISPOT gag 15-mer assay with positive responses defined as ≥55 SFC/106 PBMCs and ≥4-fold over mock control. The vaccine was well tolerated. The most common adverse events were injection site reactions, headache, pyrexia, diarrhea, fatigue, and myalgia. At week 30, geometric mean ELISPOT responses were 24, 114, and 226 SFC/106 PBMCs in the placebo, 1 × 109 vp/dose, and 1 × 1010 vp/dose groups, respectively. Overall, responses to 1 × 1010 vp were 85% and 68% in subjects with low (≤200) and high (>200) baseline Ad5 titers, respectively. The MRKAd5 HIV-1 gag vaccine was immunogenic in diverse geographic regions. Gag ELISPOT responses were greater in the 1 × 1010 vp/dose groups than in the 1 × 109 vp/dose groups. Data from this first international study indicate that adenovirus-vectored vaccines are well tolerated and may be immunogenic in subjects from regions with high prevalence of preexisting Ad5 immunity.

Dengue is endemic to Haiti but not recognized as an important illness in the autochthonous population. To evaluate the prevalence of antibodies to dengue virus (DENV), serum samples from infants and young children 7–36 months of age (n = 166) were assayed by plaque reduction neutralization assays to each DENV serotype. Dengue virus serotype 1 had infected 40% of this study population, followed by serotype 2 (12%), serotype 3 (11%), and serotype 4 (2%). Fifty-three percent of infants and young children less than 12 months of age had already experienced DENV infection, and the seroprevalence of antibody to DENV increased to 65% by 36 months. Heterotypic antibody responses were an important component of the total dengue immunity profile.

Many Haitian adolescents are highly vulnerable to HIV infection. Among 3,391 sexually active 13-25-year-olds in our Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) Center in Port-au-Prince from October 2005 to September 2006, we assessed associations between demographic and behavioral factors and HIV status using multivariable logistic regression analyses. We diagnosed HIV infection in 6.3% of 2,533 females and 5.5% of 858 males. Age-specific prevalence was 3.4% for 13-15-year-olds, 4.7% for 16-19, and 6.8% for 20-25 (P=0.02). Poor education, not residing with parents, currently or formerly married, having a child, and being self-referred to VCT services by others were significant predictors of HIV in females. HIV infection was associated with considering oneself at higher risk, though most youth did not recognize this risk. HIV in females was also associated with suspected/confirmed sexually transmitted infection (STI), especially genital ulcers (ORadj=2.28, 95%CI:1.26-4.13), years of sexual activity (Ptrend=0.07), and suspicion that partners had other partners or an STI. Among males, HIV was associated with drug use (though uncommon), as well as sexual debut with a casual/unknown person (ORadj=3.18, 95%CI:1.58-6.42). HIV-infected young people were more likely to be RPR positive and less likely to use condoms. Young Haitians are a key target for HIV prevention and care and avail themselves readily of youth-focused VCT services.

This cost-effectiveness study comparing early versus standard antiretroviral treatment (ART) for HIV, based on randomized clinical trial data from Haiti, reveals that the new WHO guidelines for early ART initiation can be cost-effective in resource-poor settings.

Background

In a randomized clinical trial of early versus standard antiretroviral therapy (ART) in HIV-infected adults with a CD4 cell count between 200 and 350 cells/mm3 in Haiti, early ART decreased mortality by 75%. We assessed the cost-effectiveness of early versus standard ART in this trial.

Methods and Findings

Trial data included use of ART and other medications, laboratory tests, outpatient visits, radiographic studies, procedures, and hospital services. Medication, laboratory, radiograph, labor, and overhead costs were from the study clinic, and hospital and procedure costs were from local providers. We evaluated cost per year of life saved (YLS), including patient and caregiver costs, with a median of 21 months and maximum of 36 months of follow-up, and with costs and life expectancy discounted at 3% per annum. Between 2005 and 2008, 816 participants were enrolled and followed for a median of 21 months. Mean total costs per patient during the trial were US$1,381 for early ART and US$1,033 for standard ART. After excluding research-related laboratory tests without clinical benefit, costs were US$1,158 (early ART) and US$979 (standard ART). Early ART patients had higher mean costs for ART (US$398 versus US$81) but lower costs for non-ART medications, CD4 cell counts, clinically indicated tests, and radiographs (US$275 versus US$384). The cost-effectiveness ratio after a maximum of 3 years for early versus standard ART was US$3,975/YLS (95% CI US$2,129/YLS–US$9,979/YLS) including research-related tests, and US$2,050/YLS excluding research-related tests (95% CI US$722/YLS–US$5,537/YLS).

Conclusions

Initiating ART in HIV-infected adults with a CD4 cell count between 200 and 350 cells/mm3 in Haiti, consistent with World Health Organization advice, was cost-effective (US$/YLS <3 times gross domestic product per capita) after a maximum of 3 years, after excluding research-related laboratory tests.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00120510

Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary

Editors' Summary

Background

AIDS has killed more than 25 million people since 1981, and about 33 million people (most of them living in low- and middle-income countries) are now infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. HIV destroys immune system cells (including CD4 cells, a type of lymphocyte), leaving infected individuals susceptible to other infections. Early in the AIDS epidemic, most HIV-infected people died within 10 years of infection. Then, in 1996, highly active antiretroviral therapy (ART) became available and, for people living in affluent countries HIV/AIDS became a chronic condition. However, ART was extremely expensive and so a diagnosis of HIV infection remained a death sentence for people living in developing countries. In 2003, this situation was declared a global health emergency, and governments, international agencies, and funding bodies began to implement plans to increase ART coverage in developing countries. In 2009, more than a third of people in low- and middle-income countries who needed ART were receiving it, on the basis of guidelines that were in place at that time.

Why Was This Study Done?

Until recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that all HIV-positive patients with CD4 cell count below 200/mm3 blood or an AIDS-defining illness such as Kaposi's sarcoma should be given ART. Then, in 2009, the CIPRA HT-001 randomized clinical trial, which was undertaken in Haiti, reported that patients who started ART when their CD4 cell count was between 200 and 350 cells/mm3 (“early ART”) had a higher survival rate than patients who started ART according to the WHO guidelines (“standard ART”). As a result, WHO now recommends that ART is started in HIV-infected people when their CD4 cell count falls below 350 cells/mm3. But is this new recommendation cost-effective? Do its benefits outweigh its costs? Policy-makers need to know the cost-effectiveness of interventions so that they can allocate their limited resources wisely. A medical intervention is generally considered cost-effective if it costs less than three times a country's per capita gross domestic product (GDP) per year of life saved (YLS). In this study, the researchers assess the cost-effectiveness of early versus standard ART in the CIPRA HT-001 trial.

What Did the Researchers Do and Find?

The researchers used trial data on the use and costs of ART, other medications, laboratory tests, outpatient visits, radiography, procedures, and hospital services to evaluate the costs associated with early ART and standard ART among the 816 CIPRA HT-001 trial participants. The average total costs per patient after a maximum of 3 years treatment were US$1,381 for early ART and US$1,033 for standard ART. These figures dropped to US$1,158 and US$979, respectively, when the costs of research-related tests without clinical benefit were excluded. Patients who received early ART had higher average costs for ART but lower costs for other aspects of their treatment than patients who received standard ART. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio after 3 years for early ART compared to standard ART was US$3,975/YLS if the costs of research-related tests were included in the calculation. That is, the cost of saving one year of life by starting ART early instead of when the CD4 cell count dropped below 200/mm3 was nearly US$4,000. Importantly, exclusion of the costs of research-related tests reduced the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of early ART compared to standard ART to US$2,050/YLS.

What Do These Findings Mean?

Because the Haitian GDP per capita is US$785, these findings suggest that, in Haiti, early ART is a cost-effective intervention over a 3-year period. That is, the incremental cost per year of life saved of early ART compared to standard ART after exclusion of research-related tests is less than three times Haiti's per capita GDP. The researchers note that their incremental cost-effectiveness ratios are likely to be conservative because they did not consider the clinical benefits of early ART that continue beyond 3 years—early ART is associated with lower longer-term mortality than standard ART—or the effect of early ART on disability and quality of life. Cost-effectiveness studies now need to be undertaken at different sites to determine whether these findings are generalizable but, for now, this cost-effectiveness study suggests that the new WHO guidelines for ART initiation can be cost-effective in resource-poor settings, information that should help policy-makers in developing countries allocate their limited resources.

Additional Information

Please access these Web sites via the online version of this summary at http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001095.

Information is available from the US National Institute of Allergy and infectious diseases on HIV infection and AIDS

HIV InSite has comprehensive information on all aspects of HIV/AIDS

Information is available from Avert, an international AIDS charity on many aspects of HIV/AIDS, including information on the HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean, and on HIV/AIDS treatment and care (in English and Spanish)

WHO provides information about universal access to AIDS treatment (in English, French and Spanish); its 2010 ART guidelines can be downloaded

More information about the CIPRA HT-001 clinical trial is available

Patient stories about living with HIV/AIDS are available through Avert and through the charity website Healthtalkonline

More information about GHESKIO is available from Weill Cornell Global Health

Background

The safety and immunogenicity of a vaccine regimen consisting of a 6-plasmid HIV-1 DNA prime (envA, envB, envC, gagB, polB, nefB) boosted by a recombinant adenovirus serotype-5 (rAd5) HIV-1 with matching inserts was evaluated in HIV-seronegative participants from South Africa, United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Methods

480 participants were evenly randomized to receive either: DNA (4 mg IM by Biojector) at 0, 1 and 2 months, followed by rAd5 (1010 PU IM by needle/syringe) at 6 months; or placebo. Participants were monitored for reactogenicity and adverse events throughout the 12-month study. Peak and duration of HIV-specific humoral and cellular immune responses were evaluated after the prime and boost.

Results

The vaccine was well tolerated and safe. T-cell responses, detected by interferon-γ (IFN-γ) ELISpot to global potential T-cell epitopes (PTEs) were observed in 70.8% (136/192) of vaccine recipients overall, most frequently to Gag (54.7%) and to Env (54.2%). In U.S. vaccine recipients T-cell responses were less frequent in Ad5 sero-positive versus sero-negative vaccine recipients (62.5% versus 85.7% respectively, p = 0.035). The frequency of HIV-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses detected by intracellular cytokine staining were similar (41.8% and 47.2% respectively) and most secreted ≥2 cytokines. The vaccine induced a high frequency (83.7%–94.6%) of binding antibody responses to consensus Group M, and Clades A, B and C gp140 Env oligomers. Antibody responses to Gag were elicited in 46% of vaccine recipients.

Conclusion

The vaccine regimen was well-tolerated and induced polyfunctional CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells and multi-clade anti-Env binding antibodies.

Trial Registration:

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00125970

Background

Laboratory monitoring for toxicity among patients receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) in less-developed settings is technically challenging and consumes significant resources.

Methods

We conducted a cohort study of the 1800 adult patients who initiated ART at the Haitian Study Group for Kaposi’s Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections (GHESKIO) in Haiti from 2003 to 2006, using baseline data to establish the prevalence and using follow-up data to establish the incidence of hepatitis, renal insufficiency, hyperglycemia, anemia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia. We determined how frequently routine (not symptom-driven) testing detected significant laboratory abnormalities and calculated the cost per disability-adjusted life year (DALY) averted by detection of these events in the asymptomatic stage, compared with a strategy of symptom-prompted testing only.

Results

Forty-eight patients (3.5%) had severe anemia at baseline testing and consequently did not receive zidovudine. Fifty-three patients receiving zidovudine therapy developed severe anemia during follow-up (incidence, 2.5 cases/100 person-years). Monitoring for asymptomatic anemia with hematocrit testing was cost-saving at baseline and had a cost-effectiveness ratio of US$317/DALY averted during follow-up; with a complete blood count, costs increased to US$1182 and $10,781/DALY averted, respectively. With glucose monitoring, 11 patients were diagnosed with new-onset hyperglycemia during follow-up (incidence, 0.7 cases/100 person-years), resulting in a cost-effectiveness ratio of US$9845 per DALY averted. Monitoring for asymptomatic hepatitis and renal insufficiency was expensive and rarely affected care.

Conclusions

Resource-poor countries should select which laboratory tests to perform on the basis of the cost-effectiveness of each test. This will depend on the national ART drug regimen and the prevalence of other comorbidities. Routine monitoring with multitest hematological and chemistry panels is unlikely to be cost-effective.

We analyzed mortality among 201 patients with AIDS and tuberculosis in Haiti. Patients who received a diagnosis of tuberculosis during the first 3 months after the initiation of antiretroviral therapy were 3.25 times more likely to die than were other patients with AIDS and tuberculosis. Failure to recognize active tuberculosis at initiation of antiretroviral therapy leads to increased mortality.

Background

HAART rollout in Latin America and the Caribbean has increased from approximately 210,000 in 2003 to 390,000 patients in 2007, covering 62% (51%–70%) of eligible patients, with considerable variation among countries. No multi-cohort study has examined rates of and reasons for change of initial HAART in this region.

Methodology

Antiretroviral-naïve patients > = 18 years who started HAART between 1996 and 2007 and had at least one follow-up visit from sites in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico and Peru were included. Time from HAART initiation to change (stopping or switching any antiretrovirals) was estimated using Kaplan-Meier techniques. Cox proportional hazards modeled the associations between change and demographics, initial regimen, baseline CD4 count, and clinical stage.

Principal Findings

Of 5026 HIV-infected patients, 35% were female, median age at HAART initiation was 37 years (interquartile range [IQR], 31–44), and median CD4 count was 105 cells/uL (IQR, 38–200). Estimated probabilities of changing within 3 months and one year of HAART initiation were 16% (95% confidence interval (CI) 15–17%) and 28% (95% CI 27–29%), respectively. Efavirenz-based regimens and no clinical AIDS at HAART initiation were associated with lower risk of change (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.7 (95% CI 1.1–2.6) and 2.1 (95% CI 1.7–2.5) comparing neverapine-based regimens and other regimens to efavirenz, respectively; HR = 1.3 (95% CI 1.1–1.5) for clinical AIDS at HAART initiation). The primary reason for change among HAART initiators were adverse events (14%), death (5.7%) and failure (1.3%) with specific toxicities varying among sites. After change, most patients remained in first line regimens.

Conclusions

Adverse events were the leading cause for changing initial HAART. Predictors for change due to any reason were AIDS at baseline and the use of a non-efavirenz containing regimen. Differences between participant sites were observed and require further investigation.

Background

Polymorphisms in CYP2B6 are known to predict increased steady-state plasma concentrations of efavirenz. We characterized relationships between genetic polymorphisms and plasma efavirenz concentrations among 45 Haitians who initiated antiretroviral therapy in Port-au-Prince.

Methods

An observational study characterized relationships between clinical factors, pharmacokinetics, and treatment response among antiretroviral-naïve patients initiating once-daily efavirenz plus twice-daily AZT/3TC. Plasma drug concentrations were determined at weeks 2 and 4. Drug doses were directly observed by field workers or designated family members. We retrospectively characterized relationships between efavirenz concentrations and 50 single nucleotide polymorphisms in CYP2B6, and several polymorphisms in CYP2A6, CYP3A4, CYP3A5 and ABCB1.

Results

Plasma for efavirenz assay was obtained 13.9 ±1.6 hours (mean ± SD) post-dose. As expected, CYP2B6 516G→T was associated with increased plasma efavirenz concentrations (Spearman’s rho=0.71, P<0.0001), as were 10 polymorphisms in linkage disequilibrium with 516G→T. Distinct CYP2B6 polymorphisms were associated with decreased plasma efavirenz concentrations (greatest absolute rho=0.48, P=0.0008). Associations were replicated by results from a recent pharmacokinetic study involving 34 healthy, HIV-negative African Americans.

Conclusions

Relatively frequent CYP2B6 polymorphisms may predict decreased plasma efavirenz exposure in patients of African descent. If replicated in other cohorts, the implications of these novel associations for treatment response warrant further study.

TOC Summary: The spread of genotype E in Africa occurred after the end of the transatlantic slave trade.

In Haiti, >90% of the population descended from African slaves. Of 7,147 Haitian pregnant women sampled, 44% of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections were caused by genotype A1, which today is found mainly in eastern Africa. Twenty percent belong to a rare subgenotype, A5, which has been found only in the former Bight of Benin, a former primary slave trading post. Haitian A subgenotypes appear to have separated early from the African subgenotypes; the most prevalent genotype and subgenotype in West Africa today (E and A3, respectively) are rare in Haiti. This difference indicates that the dominant subgenotypes in Africa emerged in the general population only after the slave trade and explains the low genetic diversity of genotype E. The high prevalence of HBV genotype E in much of Africa further suggests that HBV hyperendemicity is a recent phenomenon, probably resulting from extensive use of unsafe needles.

Background

The molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 in the Caribbean has been described using partial genome sequencing; subtype B is the most common subtype in multiple countries. To expand our knowledge of this, nearly full genome amplification, sequencing and analysis was conducted.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Virion RNA from sera collected in Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago were reverse transcribed, PCR amplified, sequenced and phylogenetically analyzed. Nearly full genomes were completed for 15 strains; partial pol was done for 67 strains. All but one of the 67 strains analyzed in pol were subtype B; the exception was a unique recombinant of subtypes B and C collected in the Dominican Republic. Of the nearly full genomes of 14 strains that were subtype B in pol, all were subtype B from one end of the genome to the other and not inter-subtype recombinants. Surprisingly, the Caribbean subtype B strains clustered significantly with each other and separate from subtype B from other parts of the pandemic.

Conclusions

The more complete analysis of HIV-1 from 4 Caribbean countries confirms previous research using partial genome analysis that the predominant subtype in circulation was subtype B. The Caribbean strains are phylogenetically distinct from other subtype B strains although the biological meaning of this finding is unclear.

There is a critical need to deliver empirically validated interventions to underserved populations. Haiti, the country most heavily affected by the AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean, accounts for approximately 50% of all cases in the region. Poverty, disparities in access to healthcare, and socio-political instability are among, the reasons why the country has been ravaged by the disease. Ongoing projects in Haiti have shown that integrated prevention and care in resource poor settings are feasible and can he successful, as evidenced by a 50% drop in incidence among pregnant women since 1993. The AIDS prevention program has embarked on a comprehensive effort to culturally adapt a cognitive-behavioral stress management program for Haitian HIV+ individuals. The purpose of the program is to improve adherence to antiretroviral medication, reduce transmission to uninfected partners, and improve coping. This comprehensive approach is necessary to ensure the validity of the cross-cultural adaptation of this intervention.

Background

Since 1999 GHESKIO, a large voluntary counseling and HIV testing center in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, has had an ongoing collaboration with the Haitian Ministry of Health to reduce the rate of mother to child HIV transmission. There are limited data on the ability to administer complex regimens for reducing mother to child transmission and on risk factors for continued transmission and infant mortality within programmatic settings in developing countries.

Methods and Findings

We analyzed data from 551 infants born to HIV-infected mothers seen at GHESKIO, between 1999 and 2005. HIV-infected mothers and their infants were given “short-course” monotherapy with antiretrovirals for prophylaxis; and, since 2003, highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) when clinical or laboratory indications were met. Infected women seen in the pre-treatment era had 27% transmission rates, falling to 10% in this cohort of 551 infants, and to only 1.9% in infants of women on HAART. Mortality rate after HAART introduction (0.12 per year of follow-up [0.08–0.16]) was significantly lower than the period before the availability of such therapy (0.23 [0.16–0.30], P<0.0001). The effects of maternal health, infant feeding, completeness of prophylaxis, and birth weight on mortality and transmission were determined using univariate and multivariate analysis. Infant HIV-1 infection and low birth weight were associated with infant mortality in less than 15 month olds in multivariate analysis.

Conclusions

Our findings demonstrate success in prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission and mortality in a highly resource constrained setting. Elements contributing to programmatic success include provision of HAART in the context of a comprehensive program with pre and postnatal care for both mother and infant.

The Latin American-Mediterranean (LAM) family of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is believed to be the cause of ∼15% of tuberculosis cases worldwide. Previously, we defined a prevalent sublineage of the LAM family in Brazil by a single characteristic genomic deletion designated RDRio. Using the Brazilian strains, we pinpoint an Ag85C103 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) (screened by restriction fragment length polymorphism [RFLP] analysis) that correctly identified all LAM family strains. Importantly, all RDRio strains concomitantly possessed the RD174 deletion. These genetic signatures, along with a newly developed multiplex PCR for rapid differentiation between “wild-type” and RDRio strains, were then used to analyze an international collection of M. tuberculosis strains. RDRio M. tuberculosis was identified from four continents involving 11 countries. Phylogenetic analysis of the IS6110-RFLP patterns from representative RDRio and LAM strains from Brazil, along with all representative clusters from a South African database, confirmed their genetic relatedness and transcontinental transmission. The Ag85C103 SNP RFLP, as compared to results obtained using a PCR method targeting a LAM-restricted IS6110 element, correctly identified 99.8% of LAM spoligotype strains. Together, these tests were more accurate than spoligotyping at categorizing strains with indefinable spoligotypes and segregated true LAM strains from those with convergent spoligotypes. The fact that RDRio strains were identified worldwide highlights the importance of this LAM family sublineage and suggests that this strain is a global threat that should be specifically targeted by public health resources. Our provision of simple and robust molecular methods will assist the evaluation of the LAM family and the RDRio sublineage.

Background

We determined direct medical costs, overhead costs, societal costs, and personnel requirements for the provision of antiretroviral therapy (ART) to patients with AIDS in Haiti.

Methods

We examined data from 218 treatment-naïve adults who were consecutively initiated on ART at the GHESKIO Center in Port-au-Prince, Haiti between December 23, 2003 and May 20, 2004 and calculated costs and personnel requirements for the first year of ART.

Results

The mean total cost of treatment per patient was $US 982 including $US 846 in direct costs, $US 114 for overhead, and $US 22 for societal costs. The direct cost per patient included generic ART medications $US 355, lab tests $US 130, nutrition $US 117, hospitalizations $US 62, pre-ART evaluation $US 58, labor $US 51, non-ART medications $US 39, outside referrals $US 31, and telephone cards for patient retention $US 3. Higher treatment costs were associated with hospitalization, change in ART regimen, TB treatment, and survival for one year. We estimate that 1.5 doctors and 2.5 nurses are required to treat 1000 patients in the first year after initiating ART.

Conclusion

Initial ART treatment in Haiti costs approximately $US 1,000 per patient per year. With generic first-line antiretroviral drugs, only 36% of the cost is for medications. Patients who change regimens are significantly more expensive to treat, highlighting the need for less-expensive second-line drugs. There may be sufficient health care personnel to treat all HIV-infected patients in urban areas of Haiti, but not in rural areas. New models of HIV care are needed for rural areas using assistant medical officers and community health workers.

With global efforts to scale up the prevention of mother-to-child transmission services and pediatric antiretroviral therapy, there is an urgent need to introduce a simple, low-cost infant human immunodeficiency virus test in the field. We postulated that the p24 antigen capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay could be simplified by eliminating signal amplification without compromising diagnostic accuracy.

Background

New rapid syphilis tests permit simple and immediate diagnosis and treatment at a single clinic visit. We compared the cost-effectiveness, projected health outcomes, and annual cost of screening pregnant women using a rapid syphilis test as part of scaled-up prenatal testing to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission in Haiti.

Methods and Findings

A decision analytic model simulated health outcomes and costs separately for pregnant women in rural and urban areas. We compared syphilis syndromic surveillance (rural standard of care), rapid plasma reagin test with results and treatment at 1-wk follow-up (urban standard of care), and a new rapid test with immediate results and treatment. Test performance data were from a World Health Organization–Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases field trial conducted at the GHESKIO Center Groupe Haitien d'Etude du Sarcome de Kaposi et des Infections Opportunistes in Port-au-Prince. Health outcomes were projected using historical data on prenatal syphilis treatment efficacy and included disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) of newborns, congenital syphilis cases, neonatal deaths, and stillbirths. Cost-effectiveness ratios are in US dollars/DALY from a societal perspective; annual costs are in US dollars from a payer perspective. Rapid testing with immediate treatment has a cost-effectiveness ratio of $6.83/DALY in rural settings and $9.95/DALY in urban settings. Results are sensitive to regional syphilis prevalence, rapid test sensitivity, and the return rate for follow-up visits. Integrating rapid syphilis testing into a scaled-up national HIV testing and prenatal care program would prevent 1,125 congenital syphilis cases and 1,223 stillbirths or neonatal deaths annually at a cost of $525,000.

Conclusions

In Haiti, integrating a new rapid syphilis test into prenatal care and HIV testing would prevent congenital syphilis cases and stillbirths, and is cost-effective. A similar approach may be beneficial in other resource-poor countries that are scaling up prenatal HIV testing.

Analyzing data from Haiti, Bruce Schackman and colleagues report that scale-up of prenatal HIV testing programs provides a cost-effective opportunity to prevent congenital syphilis through rapid testing.

Editors' Summary

Background.

Congenital syphilis (syphilis that is passed on from a woman infected with the disease to her unborn baby) is a major preventable public health problem. Around half of all pregnancies among women infected with syphilis result in stillbirth or death of the baby shortly after birth. However, it should be possible to reduce the health burden of congenital syphilis if infections among pregnant women could be quickly and accurately diagnosed. In resource-poor countries, many syphilis infections go undiagnosed, because the tests that are normally used involve sending samples away to a laboratory for processing. This means that the diagnosis can only be confirmed, and treatment started, at the next available visit. As a result, there is a delay in starting antibiotic treatment, and some women may never receive their intended treatment at all if they cannot return for their follow-up visit. However, new tests are available that don't involve cold storage of reagents or electrical equipment, and these can be used to give an immediate result about syphilis infection even in rural or resource-poor settings. Currently, global initiatives are underway to ensure many more pregnant women are tested for HIV and to reduce the risk of HIV being passed on from a woman to her baby. These initiatives could provide an important opportunity for carrying out widespread immediate screening for syphilis during pregnancy as well. Such screening might then help reduce infant deaths substantially.

Why Was This Study Done?

Field trials evaluating rapid syphilis tests have already been carried out by the World Health Organization's Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases. One such trial, carried out in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, evaluated the success of three different rapid syphilis tests as compared to two “gold standard” tests (older tests that are generally considered reliable, but which don't give an immediate result). These researchers wanted to use data from these trials to compare costs and predicted health outcomes of including different types of syphilis screening as part of scaled-up prenatal care. Specifically, the researchers wanted to find out whether including rapid syphilis testing as part of universal prenatal care would be cost-effective and whether it would reduce the rate of stillbirths and congenital syphilis.

What Did the Researchers Do and Find?

This research was based on data from the field trials previously carried out in Haiti. The data from these trials were used to create a model comparing three different strategies for screening pregnant women for syphilis infections. The three strategies were as follows: checking for the symptoms of syphilis (assumed to be the standard of care in rural areas); standard testing for antibody response to the syphilis bacterium, after which treatment can be provided at follow-up a week later (assumed to be the standard of care in urban areas); and, finally, rapid testing that gives an immediate result. For each strategy, the researchers predicted what the health outcomes would be. These outcomes are summarized in “disability-adjusted life years” (DALYs) that reflect the number of years of healthy life lost due to congenital syphilis among newborn babies, the number of stillbirths, and the number of neonatal deaths. Cost-effectiveness of each strategy was also worked out by dividing the additional costs of testing and treatment for each strategy by the number of DALYs avoided using that screening method compared to the next most expensive alternative. Under the model, urban and rural settings were looked at separately. Immediate testing was more expensive than either standard testing or checking for symptoms, but emerged as more cost-effective than standard testing in rural settings; the immediate test would cost an additional $7–$10 per disability-adjusted life year compared to the current rural or urban standard of care. The researchers predicted that if immediate syphilis testing were provided to all pregnant women in Haiti who currently have access to prenatal care, over 1,000 congenital syphilis cases would be avoided, along with over 1,000 stillbirths and neonatal deaths, at a yearly cost of $525,000.

What Do These Findings Mean?

This model suggests that including rapid syphilis testing as part of current global initiatives for preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV could substantially reduce infant deaths. The strategy is also likely to be cost-effective.

Additional Information.

Please access these Web sites via the online version of this summary at http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0040183.

MedlinePlus encyclopedia entry on congenital syphilis

Information from the World Health Organization about congenital syphilis, including information about screening programs and new screening tests

A report is also available from the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases regarding rapid syphilis tests

AVERT, an international AIDS charity, provides information about preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV

The present update on the global distribution of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex spoligotypes provides both the octal and binary descriptions of the spoligotypes for M. tuberculosis complex, including Mycobacterium bovis, from >90 countries (13,008 patterns grouped into 813 shared types containing 11,708 isolates and 1,300 orphan patterns). A number of potential indices were developed to summarize the information on the biogeographical specificity of a given shared type, as well as its geographical spreading (matching code and spreading index, respectively). To facilitate the analysis of hundreds of spoligotypes each made up of a binary succession of 43 bits of information, a number of major and minor visual rules were also defined. A total of six major rules (A to F) with the precise description of the extra missing spacers (minor rules) were used to define 36 major clades (or families) of M. tuberculosis. Some major clades identified were the East African-Indian (EAI) clade, the Beijing clade, the Haarlem clade, the Latin American and Mediterranean (LAM) clade, the Central Asian (CAS) clade, a European clade of IS6110 low banders (X; highly prevalent in the United States and United Kingdom), and a widespread yet poorly defined clade (T). When the visual rules defined above were used for an automated labeling of the 813 shared types to define nine superfamilies of strains (Mycobacterium africanum, Beijing, M. bovis, EAI, CAS, T, Haarlem, X, and LAM), 96.9% of the shared types received a label, showing the potential for automated labeling of M. tuberculosis families in well-defined phylogeographical families. Intercontinental matches of shared types among eight continents and subcontinents (Africa, North America, Central America, South America, Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia, and the Far East) are analyzed and discussed.

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most common opportunistic diseases that appear among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients in Haiti. In this context the probable emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is of great epidemiological concern. However, as routine culture of M. tuberculosis and drug susceptibility testing are not performed in Haiti, it has not been possible so far to evaluate the rate of drug resistance among M. tuberculosis isolates from circulating TB cases. This report describes the first study on the molecular typing and drug resistance of M. tuberculosis isolates from patients with culture-positive pulmonary tuberculosis monitored at the GHESKIO Centers in Haiti during the year 2000. Clinical, epidemiological, and drug susceptibility testing results were available for 157 patients with confirmed cases of TB, with a total of 8.9% of patients harboring MDR M. tuberculosis. A significant association between the occurrence of resistance and previous TB treatment was observed (P < 0.001), suggesting that a previous history of TB treatment was a risk factor associated with MDR TB in Haiti. The DNAs of individual isolates from 106 samples were available and were typed by spoligotyping and determination of the variable number of tandem DNA repeats. Both typing methods provided interpretable results for 96 isolates, and the clusters observed were further confirmed by ligation-mediated PCR to define potential cases of active transmission. Thirty-three (34%) of the isolates were found to be grouped into 11 clusters with two or more identical patterns. However, an assessment of risk factors (sex, HIV positivity, previous treatment, drug resistance) showed that none was significantly associated with the active transmission of TB. These observations suggest that acquired MDR TB is prevalent in Haiti and may be associated with compliance issues during TB treatment since prior TB therapy is the strongest risk factor associated with MDR TB. Prevention of TB transmission in Haiti should target active case investigation, routine detection of drug resistance, and adequate treatment of patients. The use of directly observed short-course therapy should be enforced throughout the country; and relapses, reactivations, or newly acquired infections should be discriminated by genotyping methods.

We present a short summary of recent observations on the global distribution of the major clades of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, the causative agent of tuberculosis. This global distribution was defined by data-mining of an international spoligotyping database, SpolDB3. This database contains 11,708 patterns from as many clinical isolates originating from more than 90 countries. The 11,708 spoligotypes were clustered into 813 shared types. A total of 1,300 orphan patterns (clinical isolates showing a unique spoligotype) were also detected.