P034 Primary syphilis presentation characteristics and serological response, is there still more to learn?

The characteristics and serological responses of primary syphilis are not completely understood. We aimed to describe the characteristics, the serological responses and presumptive treatment of primary syphilis in HIV-positive and -negative men who have sex with men (MSM). We conducted a retrospective review of microbiological and demographic information from MSM presenting with primary syphilis. There were 111 cases of primary syphilis in MSM, the median age was 46 (IQR = 37–53years) and 40 (36%) were living with HIV. Fifty percent of MSM presented with painful lesions and 14% with extra-genital lesions. Extra-genital lesions were significantly more likely to be painful than non-genital lesions (OR 4.72; 95%CI = 1.25–17.83, p = 0.02). Overall, a reactive serological response demonstrated a sensitivity of 80% (57/71) compared with Treponema pallidum PCR. Serology was more sensitive in MSM with no previous syphilis (OR = 3.38, 95%CI = 1.00–11.43, p < 0.05). MSM presenting with painless lesions were more likely to be treated presumptively (OR = 3.39, 95%CI = 1.38–8.33, p < 0.002). There were no differences in the characteristics, serological responses or management according to HIV status. Fifty percent of MSM with primary syphilis presented with painful lesions; extra-genital lesions are more likely to be painful than genital lesions, serology is positive in 80% and there were no differences between HIV-positive and -negative MSM. Understanding the characteristics of primary syphilis will underpin public health campaigns.

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Immunobiological Markers in Prophylaxis Post-exposure with Single Dose of Rifampicin and BCG Vaccine in Contacts of Multibacillary Leprosy Cases: Study Protocol (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.20968 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Camila Massae Sato ◽

Omar Ariel Espinosa Domínguez ◽

Gutembergue Santos de Sousa ◽

Fabiane Verônica da Silva ◽

Roberta Olmo Pinheiro ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Single Dose ◽

Bcg Vaccine ◽

Reference Laboratory ◽

Serological Response ◽

Bacillus Calmette Guerin ◽

Prophylactic Measure ◽

Mato Grosso ◽

Household Contacts ◽

Ifn Γ ◽

Multibacillary Leprosy

BACKGROUND Leprosy contacts are sensitive indicator of the magnitude of severity, and a high risk for infection and disease, especially if the individuals are exposed to the bacillus with multibacillary cases, which reinforces the need for chemoprophylactic measures, such as the use single-dose rifampicin (SDR) combined with BCG vaccine. OBJECTIVE Our study will analyze the serological response of anti-NDO-LID, HO-1/HMOX and serum IFN-γ concentration as a prophylactic measure after the use of single-dose rifampicin (SDR) combined with the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine (BCG) among multibacillary leprosy household contacts. METHODS Intervention study based on a prospective cohort of household contacts of new cases of multibacillary leprosy diagnosed and registered in the Information System on Diseases of Compulsory Declaration (SINAN – Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação) and residents in the municipalities of Cuiabá and Cáceres, Mato Grosso, in the years 2019 and 2020. Contacts with no signs and symptoms compatible with the disease of the intervention group will receive single-dose rifampicin (SDR) combined with BCG vaccine and will be compared to the control group. The follow-up of the cohort will last 12 months. The analyses of the anti-NDO-LID, HO-1/HMOX and serum concentration of IFN-γ tests as immunological markers before, 6 and 12 months after the intervention will be conducted in a reference laboratory (FIOCRUZ). RESULTS The study is still recruiting participants and is expected to be completed in September 2020. CONCLUSIONS Our study seeks to analyze the response of anti-NDO-LID, HO-1/HMOX tests and serum IFN-γ concentration as a prophylactic measure after the use of single-dose rifampicin (SDR) combined with the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine (BCG) in home contacts of multibacillary leprosy cases. CLINICALTRIAL Brazilian Registry of Clinical Trials (ReBEC), RBR-6yg2z9. Retrospectively registered on 3 de Out. de 2019.

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Homologous and heterologous serological response to the N‐terminal domain of SARS‐CoV‐2 in humans and mice

European Journal of Immunology ◽

10.1002/eji.202149234 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Huibin Lv ◽

Owen Tak‐Yin Tsang ◽

Ray T. Y. So ◽

Yiquan Wang ◽

Meng Yuan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Serological Response ◽

Terminal Domain

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Comparative Evaluation of In Vitro and In Vivo Assays for the Detection of Avian Infectious Bronchitis Virus as a Contaminant of Live Poultry Vaccines

Alternatives to Laboratory Animals ◽

10.1177/026119299802600508 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 26 (5) ◽

pp. 629-634

Author(s):

Emiliana Falcone ◽

Edoardo Vignolo ◽

Livia Di Trani ◽

Simona Puzelli ◽

Maria Tollis

Keyword(s):

Infectious Bronchitis Virus ◽

Serological Response ◽

Avian Infectious Bronchitis Virus ◽

Animal Testing ◽

Rt Pcr ◽

Pcr Assay ◽

In Vivo Test ◽

Infectious Bronchitis

A reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay specific for identifying avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) in poultry vaccines, and the serological response to IBV induced by the inoculation of chicks with a Newcastle disease vaccine spiked with the Massachusetts strain of IBV, were compared for their ability to detect IBV as a contaminant of avian vaccines. The sensitivity of the IBV-RT-PCR assay provided results which were at least equivalent to the biological effect produced by the inoculation of chicks, allowing this assay to be considered a valid alternative to animal testing in the quality control of avian immunologicals. This procedure can easily be adapted to detect a number of contaminants for which the in vivo test still represents the only available method of detection.

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EARLY PRIMARY SYPHILIS—A FLUORESCENT TEST TO REPLACE DARK‐GROUND EXAMINATION OF CHANCRE EXUDATE

The Medical Journal of Australia ◽

10.5694/j.1326-5377.1967.tb74140.x ◽

1967 ◽

Vol 2 (14) ◽

pp. 659-659

Keyword(s):

Primary Syphilis ◽

Early Primary ◽

Dark Ground

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Combination of lymphocyte count and not the serological response with high-sensitivity cardiac troponin for risk stratification in patients with possible COVID-19

Clinica Chimica Acta ◽

10.1016/j.cca.2021.05.018 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Saranya Kittanakom ◽

Peter A Kavsak

Keyword(s):

Risk Stratification ◽

Lymphocyte Count ◽

Cardiac Troponin ◽

High Sensitivity ◽

Serological Response

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Clinical outcomes of syphilis in HIV-negative and HIV-positive MSM: occurrence of repeat syphilis episodes and non-treponemal serology responses

Sexually Transmitted Infections ◽

10.1136/sextrans-2020-054887 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. sextrans-2020-054887

Author(s):

Silvia Achia Nieuwenburg ◽

Ricardo Jamie Sprenger ◽

Maarten Franciscus Schim van der Loeff ◽

Henry John Christiaan de Vries

Keyword(s):

Hiv Infection ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Clinical Manifestations ◽

Response To Treatment ◽

Disease Stage ◽

Hiv Positive ◽

Sexual Risk Behaviour ◽

Serological Response ◽

History Of ◽

Hiv Negative

ObjectivesHIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) may be at a higher risk of repeat syphilis, have different clinical manifestations and have a different serological response to treatment compared with HIV-negative MSM. The objective of this study was to assess whether HIV-negative and HIV-positive MSM with infectious syphilis (primary, secondary or early latent) differed in history of previous syphilis episodes, disease stage and non-treponemal titre of initial and repeat episodes, and the titre response 6 and 12 months after treatment. Furthermore, determinants associated with an inadequate titre response after treatment were explored.MethodsThis retrospective analysis used data of five longitudinal studies (four cohorts; one randomised controlled trial) conducted at the STI clinic in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Participants were tested for syphilis and completed questionnaires on sexual risk behaviour every 3–6 months. We included data of participants with ≥1 syphilis diagnosis in 2014–2019. Pearson’s χ² test was used to compare HIV-negative and HIV-positive MSM in occurrence of previous syphilis episodes, disease stage of initial and repeat syphilis episode and non-treponemal titre treatment responses.ResultsWe included 355 participants with total 459 syphilis episodes. HIV-positive MSM were more likely to have a history of previous syphilis episodes compared with HIV-negative MSM (68/90 (75.6%) vs 96/265 (36.2%); p<0.001). Moreover, HIV-positive MSM with repeat syphilis were less often diagnosed with primary syphilis (7/73 (9.6%) vs 36/126 (28.6%)) and more often diagnosed with secondary syphilis (16/73 (21.9%) vs 17/126 (13.5%)) and early latent syphilis (50/73 (68.5%) vs 73/126 (57.9%)) (p=0.005). While not significantly different at 12 months, HIV-negative MSM were more likely to have an adequate titre response after 6 months compared with HIV-positive MSM (138/143 (96.5%) vs 66/74 (89.2%); p=0.032).ConclusionsIn repeat syphilis, HIV infection is associated with advanced syphilis stages and with higher non-treponemal titres. HIV infection affects the serological outcome after treatment, as an adequate titre response was observed earlier in HIV-negative MSM.

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EXPRESS: Clinical performance of the ElecsysÂ® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 combined in an algorithm with two specific anti-IgG immunoassays for the evaluation of the serological response of patients with COVID-19 in a population with a high prevalence of infection

Annals of Clinical Biochemistry International Journal of Laboratory Medicine ◽

10.1177/00045632211038038 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 000456322110380

Author(s):

Xavier GabaldÃ³-Barrios ◽

Simona Iftimie ◽

Anna HernÃ¡ndez-Aguilera ◽

Isabel Pujol ◽

Frederic Ballester ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Immune Response ◽

Polymerase Chain Reaction ◽

Predictive Value ◽

Clinical Performance ◽

Polymerase Chain Reaction Test ◽

Serological Response ◽

Chain Reaction ◽

Automated Assay ◽

High Prevalence ◽

Polymerase Chain

Background: Anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies have been used in the study of the immune response in infected patients. However, differences in sensitivity and specificity have been reported, depending on the method of analysis. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of an algorithm in which a high-throughput automated assay for total antibodies was used for screening and two semi-automated IgG-specific methods were used to confirm the results, and also to correlate the analytical results with the clinical data and the time elapsed since infection. Methods: We studied 306 patients, some hospitalized and some outpatients, belonging to a population with a high prevalence of COVID-19. One-hundred and ten patients were classified as SARS-CoV-2 negative and 196 as positive by polymerase chain reaction. Results: The algorithm and automated assay alone had a specificity and a positive predictive value of 100%, although the sensitivity and negative predictive value of the algorithm was higher. Both methods showed a good sensitivity from day 11 of the onset of symptoms in asymptomatic and symptomatic patients. The absorbance of the total antibodies was significantly higher in severely symptomatic than in asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients, which suggests the antibody level was higher. We found 15 patients that did not present seroconversion at 12 days from the onset of symptoms or the first polymerase chain reaction test. Conclusion: This study highlights the proper functioning of algorithms in the diagnosis of the immune response to COVID-19, which can help to define testing strategies against this disease.

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