Three studies were done in children from the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, an area highl... more Three studies were done in children from the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, an area highly endemic for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. The objective of the first study was to investigate the epidemiology and age of acquisition of HBV infection in a community based, age stratified sample of children from 0-6 years of age (n=2299), to provide a pre-immunisation baseline measure of this infection in the population targeted for HBV immunisation in South Africa. The results suggest that there is a significant burden of HBV infection in the population targeted for immunisation (overall, 10.4% HBsAg positivity and 15.7% positive 61-72 month age group) with a high rate of chronic carriers in the early age groups of 0-6 (8.1%) and 7-12 (8.9%) months. In the second study the HBV genotypes in a randomly selected group of chronically infected individuals from the same population (n=57) was determined. The aim was to supply information regarding the naturally circulating HBV genotypes...
We determined immune cross-recognition and the degree of Tat conservation in patients infected by... more We determined immune cross-recognition and the degree of Tat conservation in patients infected by local human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 strains. The data indicated a similar prevalence of total and epitope-specific anti-Tat IgG in 578 serum samples from HIV-infected Italian (n=302), Ugandan (n=139), and South African (n=137) subjects, using the same B clade Tat protein that is being used in vaccine trials. In particular, anti-Tat antibodies were detected in 13.2%, 10.8%, and 13.9% of HIV-1-infected individuals from Italy, Uganda, and South Africa, respectively. Sequence analysis results indicated a high similarity of Tat from the different circulating viruses with BH-10 Tat, particularly in the 1-58 amino acid region, which contains most of the immunogenic epitopes. These data indicate an effective cross-recognition of a B-clade laboratory strain-derived Tat protein vaccine by individuals infected with different local viruses, owing to the high similarity of Tat epitopes.
Three studies were done in children from the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, an area highl... more Three studies were done in children from the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, an area highly endemic for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. The objective of the first study was to investigate the epidemiology and age of acquisition of HBV infection in a community based, age stratified sample of children from 0-6 years of age (n=2299), to provide a pre-immunisation baseline measure of this infection in the population targeted for HBV immunisation in South Africa. The results suggest that there is a significant burden of HBV infection in the population targeted for immunisation (overall, 10.4% HBsAg positivity and 15.7% positive 61-72 month age group) with a high rate of chronic carriers in the early age groups of 0-6 (8.1%) and 7-12 (8.9%) months. In the second study the HBV genotypes in a randomly selected group of chronically infected individuals from the same population (n=57) was determined. The aim was to supply information regarding the naturally circulating HBV genotypes...
We determined immune cross-recognition and the degree of Tat conservation in patients infected by... more We determined immune cross-recognition and the degree of Tat conservation in patients infected by local human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 strains. The data indicated a similar prevalence of total and epitope-specific anti-Tat IgG in 578 serum samples from HIV-infected Italian (n=302), Ugandan (n=139), and South African (n=137) subjects, using the same B clade Tat protein that is being used in vaccine trials. In particular, anti-Tat antibodies were detected in 13.2%, 10.8%, and 13.9% of HIV-1-infected individuals from Italy, Uganda, and South Africa, respectively. Sequence analysis results indicated a high similarity of Tat from the different circulating viruses with BH-10 Tat, particularly in the 1-58 amino acid region, which contains most of the immunogenic epitopes. These data indicate an effective cross-recognition of a B-clade laboratory strain-derived Tat protein vaccine by individuals infected with different local viruses, owing to the high similarity of Tat epitopes.
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