No abstract

Objective There are limited data on treatment-related anemia in Asian HIV-infected children. Methods Data from Asian HIV-infected children aged <18 years on first-line highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) were used. Children who had preexisting severe anemia at baseline were excluded. Anemia was graded by using the DAIDS 2004 table. Potential risk factors of severe anemia were assessed by logistic regression. Results Data from 1,648 children (51.9% female, 62.8% WHO stage 3/4) were analyzed. Median (IQR) age was 6.8 (3.7–9.6) years, CD4% was 9 (3–16)% and plasma HIV-RNA was 5.2 (4.7–5.6) log10 copies/ml at HAART initiation in those with available testing. The most common regimens were stavudine/lamivudine/nevirapine (42%) and zidovudine/lamivudine/nevirapine (25%). Severe anemia was identified in 47 (2.9%) children after a median time of 6 months after HAART initiation with an incidence rate of 5.4 per 100 child-years. Mild anemia or moderate anemia at baseline (p=0.024 and p=0.005, respectively), previous or current use of zidovudine (p<0.0001 and p=0.013, respectively), and male sex (p=0.008) were associated with severe anemia. Higher weight-for-age z-score (p=0.004) was protective. Conclusions The incidence of severe anemia in Asian HIV-infected children after HAART initiation was low and mainly occurred during the first few months after HAART initiation. Mild to moderate anemia at baseline and using AZT were independent risk factors of developing severe anemia.

HIV-infected children from SSA but not those from other regions, have a high risk of developing KS after cART initiation. Early cART initiation in these children might reduce KS risk.

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Setting Drug resistance threatens tuberculosis (TB) control, particularly among HIV-infected persons. Objective We surveyed antiretroviral therapy (ART) programs from lower-income countries on prevention and management of drug-resistant TB. Design We used online questionnaires to collect program-level data in 47 ART programs in Southern Africa (14), East Africa (8), West Africa (7), Central Africa (5), Latin America (7) and Asia-Pacific (6 programs) in 2012. Patient-level data were collected on 1,002 adult TB patients seen at 40 of the participating ART programs. Results Phenotypic drug susceptibility testing was available at 36 (77%) ART programs, but only used for 22% of all TB patients. Molecular drug resistance testing was available at 33 (70%) programs and used for 23% of all TB patients. Twenty ART programs (43%) provided directly observed therapy (DOT) during the whole treatment, 16 (34%) during intensive phase only and 11 (23%) did not follow DOT. Fourteen (30%) ART programs reported no access to second-line TB regimens; 18 (38%) reported TB drug shortages. Conclusions Capacity to diagnose and treat drug-resistant TB was limited across ART programs in lower income countries. DOT was not always implemented and drug supply was regularly interrupted, which may contribute to the global emergence of drug resistance.