Active clinical trials for "Communicable Diseases"

This is an 8 to14-week three-arm randomized controlled in children 8 to 12 years old. The main purpose of the study is to evaluate if stevia (as with other sweeteners and consistent with prior research in children and adults) has benefits for weight control and metabolic function relative to caloric sweeteners, and whether it provides benefits in this regard similar to water.

Catheter-related bloodstream infections are associated with increased mortality, morbidity, and length of hospital stay. The incidence has decreased significantly with the strict implementation of preventive bundle cares and checklists in intensive care units. Bathing with solutions containing chlorhexidine has been included in preventive strategies in recent years. Although some studies have shown that chlorhexidine bathing reduces the frequency of hospital-associated infections, there are important differences in management of practice and adherence to practice in different facilities. The majority of the studies conducted include adult patients. According to the CDC guidelines, chlorhexidine bathing is recommended for children over 2 months of age to prevent catheter-related bloodstream infection. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of daily bathing with 2% chlorhexidine gluconate solution in preventing catheter-related bloodstream infections in pediatric patients with temporary central venous catheters.

This is a study comparing two methods of dressing a post operative wound that are currently in practice. One method is a traditional dry gauze dressing. The other method is using a negative pressure dressing that provides gentle suction on the wound. The investigators will attempt to determine how well the use of post-operative negative pressure dressing reduces wound healing problems in patients who have surgery after radiation for a sarcoma in the thigh or leg.

Cervical cancer is the most common cause of cancer and a leading cause of death among HIV-infected women living in resource-limited settings. Although screening for premalignant lesions is an effective way of reducing cervical cancer incidence, its uptake in low-resource settings to date is low. The use of HPV testing for primary screening is currently recommended by many guidelines - including the WHO guidelines for cervical cancer screening in resource-limited settings - because of its greater sensitivity and ease of use compared to other options. However, these WHO guidelines have both highlighted the need to conduct more research on appropriate HPV-based algorithms among HIV-infected women, as immunodeficiency may affect the screening performance. Indeed, HPV infections in HIV-infected women are very common, so there is a need for additional triage to identify women most at risk and there remains considerable uncertainty on the optimal option for such triage. Most of the evidence available comes from HIV-negative populations living in high-resource settings and is not necessarily relevant for low-resource contexts where the epidemiological background is different, women access late to screening and may not have follow up visits, where financial constraints are important and health service resources limited. Hence, the proposed project aims to provide evidence on the effectiveness and feasibility of HPV-based screening algorithms among HIV-infected women in low-resource settings. This multicenter cross-sectional study will include 3,000 HIV-infected women (30-49 years old) receiving HAART and followed in Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso) and Phnom Penh (Cambodia). After self-collection of cervico-vaginal samples, each participant will have an HPV test with partial genotyping primary using the Xpert HPV assay, a real-time PCR assay that provides the possibility of identifying 14 HR-HPV types within one hour. The Xpert HPV test has been chosen because of the wide availability of the Genexpert platform in HIV care centers from resource-limited settings. Furthermore, it can specifically detect HPV-16, 18 and 45, the most carcinogenic HPV types in both HIV-negative and HIV-positive women, separately from other high-risk HPV types. VIA will be another triage option either alone or combined to HPV DNA genotyping. In addition, participants treated for cervical lesion will be followed over 12 months to assess the risk of post-treatment lesions (CIN2+/HSIL) and to identify associated risk-factors.

Immunoprophylaxis with two hepatitis B vaccinations following the hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIg) and hepatitis B vaccine at birth is largely effective in protecting infants from hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. However, hepatitis B infection due to immunoprophylaxis failure often occurs in approximately 10% of infants who are born to highly viremic mothers with HBeAg-positive. Maternal HBV DNA > 200,000 IU/mL is the major independent risk for mother-to-child transmission (MTCT). A recent randomized controlled trial has shown that Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate (TDF) use during the third trimester of pregnancy could safely reduce the rate of MTCT with few adverse effects when combined with the administration of the standard immunoprophylaxis to the infants. However, HBIg is expensive and not available in many developing countries, resulting approximately 30% of infant infection when they received only HBV vaccination. The present study aims to investigate if highly viremic mothers who are treated with TDF from the second trimester to delivery in combination of infant's standard series of HBV vaccinations (omission of HBIg) have a comparable MTCT rates, when compared to those of mothers who receive TDF at the third trimester in combination of infant's standard HBV vaccinations and a birth dose of HBIg.

18F-sodium fluoride (18F-NaF) was already investigated numerous times in the last 40 years as a PET alternative to standard 99m-technetium-derived bone scintigraphy. However, lack of universal tracer availability and higher costs contributed to the failure of 18F-NaF to systematically supplant bone scintigraphy as a standard of care. Recently, an isotope shortage crisis occurred and evidenced the need to have non-reactor-derived alternatives for many nuclear medicine procedures, including bone scintigraphy. Since 18F-NaF is cyclotron-produced, it could become a necessary alternative to bone scintigraphy in case of another worldwide isotope shortage. The study aims to evaluate the safety profile of 18F-NaF injection. Moreover, a patient registry will be compiled in order to perform sub-studies on 18F-NaF diagnostic performance on diverse bone and articular diseases.

Phase III, Prospective, Multinational, Multicenter, Randomized, Controlled, Two-arm, Double Blind Study to Assess Efficacy and Safety of D-PLEX Administered Concomitantly with the Standard of Care (SoC), Compared to a SoC Treated Control Arm, in Prevention of Post Abdominal Surgery Incisional Infection.

The study aims to evaluate whether organised, concomitant HPV vaccination and HPV screening offered to all resident women aged 22-27 will result in a more rapid elimination of HPV infection in Sweden. This objective will be examined at the population level.

The goal of the research is to assess candidate COVID-19 rapid diagnostic tests (e.g. immunodiagnostic antibody tests, like Cellex qSARS-CoV-2 IgG/IgM Rapid Test, or antigen tests, like Turklab Test-It COVID-19 Home Test, AllBio Science Inc. and Artron Laboratories Inc. rapid COVID-19 antigen tests in order to judge their clinical accuracy compared to Centers for Disease Control (CDC)-recommended molecular genetic testing and clinical diagnosis. Second, it is our goal to determine if self-testing assisted by COVIDscanDX mobile device camera acquisition software platform and telemedicine clinical/technical support (virtual point-of-care) improves the ease of use and immediate interpretation of the tests, thus making self-testing comparable in accuracy and safety to testing in a clinical setting. Third, we are testing antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 after diagnosis with COVID-19 or following vaccination to measure the onset and time course of detectable antibodies from finger-stick blood drops and rapid antibody lateral flow tests. The overall purpose of the study is to dramatically increase the capacity of COVID-19 testing by establishing the safety, ease-of-use and validity of self-testing assisted by mobile device imaging and telemedicine remote support and provide evidence of antibody time-course response to vaccination.

Surgical site infections (SSIs) are associated with increased patient morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. ESKAPE (Enterococcus, S. aureus, Klebsiella, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, and Enterobacter spp.) pathogens are particularly pathogenic because they have increased capacity to acquire resistance and virulence traits. The investigators have proven that a multifaceted program involving improved basic perioperative preventive measures can generate substantial reductions in S. aureus transmission and significant reductions in SSIs (88% reduction as compared to usual care). In this study, the investigators aim to examine the relative effectiveness of each component of this program in controlling ESKAPE transmission and reducing SSIs and to identify an optimal implementation strategy for national dissemination. Randomization occurs at the site level, and sites adopt preventative programs. This work will improve perioperative patient safety for the 51 million patients who undergo surgery each year.