Active clinical trials for "Communicable Diseases"

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.

To conduct a multicenter epidemiologic study of the human retroviruses HIV-1, HIV-2, HTLV-I, and HTLV-II in volunteer blood donors from areas of the United States that were reportedly at high and medium or low risk for HIV. Also, to determine the prevalence of retrovirus seropositivity in first time blood donors; and the rate of retrovirus seroconversion in repeat blood donors as a measure of incidence of infection; to ascertain risk factors for antibody-positive donors; to characterize the blood donor population by geographic location, age, sex, race/ethnicity, and donation history to permit analysis on prevalence, incidence, and risk factors; to identify recipients of retrovirus-positive blood units and conduct clinical and laboratory follow-up of these recipients; and to establish a blood specimen repository for long-term storage of specimens from study donors and recipients for future testing.

To investigate the role of chronic infection as a risk factor for vascular disease in a study of Native Americans. The primary focus is on the two most common agents Chlamydia pneumoniae and cytomegalovirus with a secondary emphasis on Helicobacter pylori.

This study evaluates patients infected with both HIV and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) who are receiving anti-HIV drugs. The purpose of this study is to learn more about HCV infection in patients whose HIV blood level decreases to less than 500 copies/ml.

Invasive fungal infections have a major impact on the morbidity and mortality of immunocompromised patients, including patients with hematological malignancies, neutropenic patients, human immunodeficiency virus infected patients, diabetics, solid organ transplanted patients and patients admitted in an intensive care unit. The survival of these patients depends on early diagnosis and prompt appropriate antifungal treatment. The early diagnosis of these infections is difficult because of the lack of sensitive test methods, notably blood cultures. For these reasons, the investigators decided to develop a real-time PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) assay on blood samples. It should allow rapid response to establish a positive or negative diagnosis of invasive fungal infection, could contribute strongly to the decision of treating using antifungals, and should monitor the effectiveness and the optimization of antifungal prescriptions. The investigators' objectives are: First, to validate an extraction method from blood infected by fungi species. Secondly, the investigators want to develop three real-time PCR: A fungal real-time PCR able to detect most fungal species; a real-time PCR targetting Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus which are two clinically important pathogens. Then blood samples of patients (classified according to EORTC consensus) will be collected during the study in order to evaluate and validate our method on clinical samples. Results will allow the investigators to determine the sensitivity, specificity and reproducibility, negative and predictive values. Overall, the investigators' work aims to evaluate the clinical impact of real-time PCR in the early diagnosis of invasive fungal infections and on the initiation or stopping of antifungal therapy. The economic impact resulting from the use of this method will be evaluated.

The aim of this trial is to evaluate the safety and virological and immunological efficacy of Aptivus in treatment-experienced patients with advanced HIV-1 infection who had developed resistance to more than one protease inhibitor.

The virological efficacy will be no different in children treated with single versus double boosted PI second line ART regimens.

The objectives of the study are to determine the prevalence of respiratory virus infections in COPD patients, during and outside acute exacerbation to explore the impact of these viral infections on the outcome of these patients to explore the association between blood procalcitonin levels and viral infections in this population.

Viral upper respiratory tract infection (URI) is one of the most common diseases among toddlers and pre-school children.Complete and effective prevention measures for URI are currently unavailable. Montelukast (Singulair ) is a selective leukotriene-receptor antagonist that inhibits the cysteinyl leukotriene 1 receptor. It is well tolerated and safe even in young children. Montelukast is an effective treatment for asthma (and allergic rhinitis from 1 year of age. Infections with viruses causing URI such as Influenza A, Rhinovirus and respiratory syncitial virus increases leukotriens levels in nasal secretions. Therefore, one may postulate that leukotriens inhibitors may reduce symptoms during URI. However the effect of montelukast as a treatment for non-specific cough was not properly studied and there are no studies on the effect of montelukast as prevention for URI. Hypothesis: Prophylactic treatment with Montelukast will reduce the incidence and severity of upper respiratory infection in children.

The present study was conducted to study the impact community acquired respiratory virus (CARV) infections in an outpatient setting on graft function of lung transplant recipients. The study was aimed to identify risk factors for CARV infections. The study was further intended to investigate an association of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV) and human adenovirus (HAdV) with the development of BOS and to identify risk factors for virus detection in blood.