Active clinical trials for "Communicable Diseases"

The purpose of this research is to investigate the efficacy of transplanting screened donor fecal material in treating patients with recurrent Clostridium difficile infection. Participants with refractory Clostridium difficile infection will be given healthy donor stool administered by colonoscopy or enema and their response will be evaluated by symptom questionnaire and stool testing for Clostridium difficile at 4 weeks after the treatment.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the current dose of nevirapine recommended in the Ontario Ministry of Health vertical transmission prevention protocol achieves therapeutic drug levels in newborn infants at high risk of HIV infection.

This is a retrospective, blinded, external validation study of a novel in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) assay that will include samples that were previously collected from febrile pediatric patients. The investigated assay measures the levels of a few host-related, blood-based, bio-markers that will be integrated into a single score. Based on this score, each patient will be classified into one of three categories: (i) bacterial immune response, (ii) viral immune response, and (iii) marginal immune response. The assay prediction and the patient diagnosis will than be unveiled and compared to determine their level of concordance.

This is an observational prospective study of an in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) assay planned to enroll 632 subjects. The study will be conducted in two stages: Stage A is aimed at identifying individual biomarkers and constructing a multi-parametric diagnostic model, whereas Stage B is aimed at testing the multi-parametric diagnostic model using a fresh cohort of patients. A collection of clinical, radiological and laboratory data will be gathered in order to establish a final diagnosis. Blood samples will be analyzed and the levels of approximately 700 and 250,000 biomarkers will be determined using immunoassays and molecular measurements respectively. A final diagnosis will be determined based on a majority decision of a panel of three or more independent physicians. Based on the final diagnosis, the accuracy of individual biomarkers and combined sets of biomarkers for differentiating between distinct groups of patients will be evaluated.

Newborn mortality continues to be unacceptably high in Cambodia, despite reductions in maternal and under five year old mortality. Evidence exists that a large proportion of newborn mortality globally and in Cambodia is attributable to infections and sepsis. The study proposes a package intervention to address infection control in the perinatal period in facilities and to improve the timeliness of referral of newborns with suspected infections to appropriate health facilities for treatment through upgrading of hygiene practices in facilities and linking of community based volunteers with health facilities and families in the community setting. By delivering a coordinated intervention that combines improved education for health center midwives, village health care workers, and mothers of newborns, along with improved care coordination with increase in number of interactions (points of contact) between mothers and health care personnel, the investigators will see improved knowledge of newborn danger signs among mothers and health care workers, more rapid case detection of significant newborn illnesses, and more rapid and appropriate referral of ill newborns. The investigators also hypothesize that the common causes of newborn sepsis in Cambodia are different from those reported in Western cultures, and that Staphylococcus aureus will be a common pathogen as described in neighboring Laos. The investigators will evaluate the causes of newborn sepsis in the subset of infants referred to Takeo Provincial Hospital.

The study is a phase I/II, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized cross-over clinical trial of tocilizumab (TCZ) or placebo in HIV-infected subjects receiving antiretroviral therapy with suppressed viral replication and CD4+ T cell count ≥350 and ≤1,000 cells/mm3)

We need human blood to understand the immune response to infection and to test promising new vaccines against infectious diseases in the laboratory. One test is called the Serum Bactericidal Assay (or SBA), which is measure of how effective antibodies are at killing certain bacteria and can be an important measure of how effective a new vaccine may be. The samples would be used in the laboratory analysis of clinical trials of vaccines used in adults and children, and some samples in pre-clinical (animal) experiments testing new vaccines before they enter human-stage testing. Most people have some form of protection against most bacteria already, so not everyone is a suitable blood donor for this laboratory test. We therefore start by taking a small blood sample and test this one before asking for more blood if we found yours suitable for the work we do.

Vancomycin -resistant enterococci(VRE) has emerged as one of the most common nosocomial pathogen of health-care associated infection since 1988. Although the new antimicrobial agents such as Tigecycline , Daptomycin, Linezolid have clinically effectiveness for the treatment of VRE, but there was not appropriate drugs for eradicating the colonization of VRE. So the active surveillance and strict contact precaution are the best methods for VRE colonization and transmission. This is a one year study program, we select a unit as the study site. First month (January) is the prepare period. Therefore , we collect 3 months (from February to April) baseline data, then interrupted one month(May) for the health care worker's infection control education. Then the intervention period are three months (from June to August), and the last four months(from September to December) are the analysis and evaluation period. In the baseline period, we only do the patient's active surveillance and environmental culture. In the intervention period, beside the patient's active surveillance and environmental culture, we add contact precaution as the infection control method. If patient has VRE infection, we prescribe appropriate antibiotic therapy until the culture result proved no growth of VRE. The aim of this study is to compare and analyze these two period (baseline period and intervention period) for understanding the transmission, risk factors and carriage rate of VRE, as the important guidelines for the VRE infection control in the future.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate if preoperative antibiotics, followed by 48 hour course of broad spectrum antibiotics prevents wound infection complications in patients that are obese who undergo cesarean section. Standard antibiotic prophylaxis in all weight women undergoing cesarean section is cefazolin prior to skin incision. It is the hypothesis that a prolonged, 48 hour course of broad spectrum antibiotics that are suited to prevent growth of normal vaginal flora will decrease the rate of surgical site infection in obese patients that are at a greatly increased risk of postoperative infections complications.

This study is designed to evaluate maternal virological and immunological parameters to determine their ability to predict congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. When a pregnant woman is infected with CMV, her immune system (which protects her from infection) is activated and the virus can be found in the woman's bodily fluids (blood, saliva, urine, vaginal secretions). The aim of this study is to find out if there is a link between either the pregnant woman's immune response or the presence of the virus in these bodily fluids and the child/foetus being infected with the virus.