SummaryBackgroundHealth care for people living with HIV has improved substantially in the past two decades. Robust estimates of how these improvements have affected prognosis and life expectancy are of utmost importance to patients, clinicians, and health-care planners. We examined changes in 3 year survival and life expectancy of patients starting combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) between 1996 and 2013.MethodsWe analysed data from 18 European and North American HIV-1 cohorts. Patients (aged ≥16 years) were eligible for this analysis if they had started ART with three or more drugs between 1996 and 2010 and had at least 3 years of potential follow-up. We estimated adjusted (for age, sex, AIDS, risk group, CD4 cell count, and HIV-1 RNA at start of ART) all-cause and cause-specific mortality hazard ratios (HRs) for the first year after ART initiation and the second and third years after ART initiation in four calendar periods (1996–99, 2000–03 [comparator], 2004–07, 2008–10). We estimated life expectancy by calendar period of initiation of ART.Findings88 504 patients were included in our analyses, of whom 2106 died during the first year of ART and 2302 died during the second or third year of ART. Patients starting ART in 2008–10 had lower all-cause mortality in the first year after ART initiation than did patients starting ART in 2000–03 (adjusted HR 0·71, 95% CI 0·61–0·83). All-cause mortality in the second and third years after initiation of ART was also lower in patients who started ART in 2008–10 than in those who started in 2000–03 (0·57, 0·49–0·67); this decrease was not fully explained by viral load and CD4 cell count at 1 year. Rates of non-AIDS deaths were lower in patients who started ART in 2008–10 (vs 2000–03) in the first year (0·48, 0·34–0·67) and second and third years (0·29, 0·21–0·40) after initiation of ART. Between 1996 and 2010, life expectancy in 20-year-old patients starting ART increased by about 9 years in women and 10 years in men.InterpretationEven in the late ART era, survival during the first 3 years of ART continues to improve, which probably reflects transition to less toxic antiretroviral drugs, improved adherence, prophylactic measures, and management of comorbidity. Prognostic models and life expectancy estimates should be updated to account for these improvements.FundingUK Medical Research Council, UK Department for International Development, EU EDCTP2 programme.

Objectives: Invasive mold infections associated with Aspergillus species are a significant cause of mortality in immunocompromised patients. The most frequently occurring aetiological pathogens are members of the Aspergillus section Fumigati followed by members of the section Terrei. The frequency of Aspergillus terreus and related (cryptic) species in clinical specimens, as well as the percentage of azole-resistant strains remains to be studied.Methods: A global set (n = 498) of A. terreus and phenotypically related isolates was molecularly identified (beta-tubulin), tested for antifungal susceptibility against posaconazole, voriconazole, and itraconazole, and resistant phenotypes were correlated with point mutations in the cyp51A gene.Results: The majority of isolates was identified as A. terreus (86.8%), followed by A. citrinoterreus (8.4%), A. hortai (2.6%), A. alabamensis (1.6%), A. neoafricanus (0.2%), and A. floccosus (0.2%). One isolate failed to match a known Aspergillus sp., but was found most closely related to A. alabamensis. According to EUCAST clinical breakpoints azole resistance was detected in 5.4% of all tested isolates, 6.2% of A. terreus sensu stricto (s.s.) were posaconazole-resistant. Posaconazole resistance differed geographically and ranged from 0% in the Czech Republic, Greece, and Turkey to 13.7% in Germany. In contrast, azole resistance among cryptic species was rare 2 out of 66 isolates and was observed only in one A. citrinoterreus and one A. alabamensis isolate. The most affected amino acid position of the Cyp51A gene correlating with the posaconazole resistant phenotype was M217, which was found in the variation M217T and M217V.Conclusions: Aspergillus terreus was most prevalent, followed by A. citrinoterreus. Posaconazole was the most potent drug against A. terreus, but 5.4% of A. terreus sensu stricto showed resistance against this azole. In Austria, Germany, and the United Kingdom posaconazole-resistance in all A. terreus isolates was higher than 10%, resistance against voriconazole was rare and absent for itraconazole.

The strong association of CD4 count at start of combination therapy with subsequent survival in HIV-infected patients diminished during the first 5 years of treatment. After 5 years, lower baseline CD4 counts were not associated with higher mortality.

The aim of this study was to assess different dosing strategies that may result in increased posaconazole bioavailability in patients with compromised gastrointestinal function and at high risk for invasive fungal infections. Patients undergoing chemotherapy and at risk for compromised gastrointestinal function received open-label posaconazole at 200 mg three times daily (TID) on days 1 to 8. Patients were randomized to one of three open-label dosing regimens of posaconazole on days 9 to 15: 200 mg TID, 400 mg twice daily (BID), or 400 mg TID. The plasma concentrations of interest on days 8 and 15 were 500 and 700 ng/ ml, respectively; day 2 plasma concentrations of 250 and 350 ng/ml were chosen as levels that might result in steady-state concentrations of >500 and >700 ng/ml, respectively. A total of 75 patients enrolled; 52/75 (69%) completed the study, and 49/75 were included in the pharmacokinetic analyses. Mean plasma concentrations were 230, 346, and 637 ng/ml on days 2, 3, and 8, respectively. The day 15 values were 660, 930, and 671 ng/ml for 200 mg TID, 400 mg BID, and 400 mg TID, respectively. In 12 patients with a day 8 posaconazole concentration of <250 ng/ml, an overall benefit of the higher two doses was not apparent, suggesting that a subset of patients has low steady-state plasma concentrations. A change in dosing regimen on day 9 did not lead to higher exposures in these "poor absorbers" on day 15. Poor absorption may be enhanced with a high-fat meal, a nutritional supplement, or acidification.