Active clinical trials for "Communicable Diseases"

Though still an endemic area, the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in Taiwan is decreasing in recent years. Further reduction in TB incidence, or even elimination should rely on treatment for LTBI. However, which is the cost-effective screening method or what is the cost-effective regimen in Taiwan is still unclear. Therefore, the investigators designed this prospective study to follow up adult household contacts with LTBI for 2 years and compare the efficacy of 9-month isoniazid and 4-month rifampicin).

This will be an uncontrolled, open-labelled pilot study exploring whether minocycline has a measurable and selective effect on HIV infection of the central nervous system.

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of long-term treatment with clarithromycin in patients with Non-tuberculous Mycobacterial Pulmonary Infections.

The purpose of the study is to determine the best ways to prevent infections after heart surgery. Participation in the study will last at most 3 months after heart surgery. The study will only collect information about the care patients receive during the planned surgery. No new testing or procedures will be done. Patients will receive only the tests or procedures the doctor already has planned. This kind of study is an observational study, because all that is planned to do is observe the care patients receive and how well they do during treatment. The information collected should help to improve the quality of surgical care in the future.

Hepatitis E is a worldwide disease. It is the leading or second leading cause of acute hepatitis in adults in developing countries from sub-Saharan Africa or Southeast Asia, where it is hyperendemic and principally water-borne. In industrialised western countries, hepatitis E was until recently considered as imported from hyperendemic geographical areas, but is currently an emerging autochthonous infectious disease. A growing body of data from Europe, America, Australia, and Asia strongly indicate that pigs represent a major Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) reservoir and might be a source of zoonotic transmission to humans through direct or indirect exposure. Hepatitis E typically causes self-limited acute infection. However, the overall death rate is 1-4%, and it can reach 20% in pregnant women and might be still higher in patients with underlying chronic liver disease. To date, no preventive or curative treatment of hepatitis E is available.

The purpose of this study is to determine if the Childsmile programme (www.child-smile.org) with the additional maternal use of xylitol is more effective at reducing dental decay in children than a Childsmile program alone. The children will be compared in the two groups at age two, to determine how the interventions affected the early colonization of mutans streptococci, an important risk factor of tooth decay. At three and at five years the investigators will also examine the amount of tooth decay in these children. Using MIDAS (Scotland's national health service dental data) records, the investigators will follow the oral health of the children until the age of 5 years. Main hypothesis: The maternal consumption of xylitol reduces early childhood caries

In this two-year study, we will target two high risk groups, including MSM of HIV-infected and those of non-HIV-infected. We will avail the serodiagnosis to detect the potential amebic carriers in both groups; and use microscopy to detect protozoas other than amebiasis. Meanwhile we will also survey the patients' status of sexual transmitted diseases (STD). For the amebic carriers, we will apply specific antigen and molecular biologic method to follow up the duration of the persistence of fecal amebas. We try to clarify the dynamic change of amebic carriage.

This community-based clinical trial based in two districts of rural Maharashtra, India compares utilization of an intervention model of "fully-decentralized," or rural primary clinic-based, HIV testing and care services, with a control model of the Indian government's partially-decentralized HIV services, offering rural referral clinic testing and urban-based HIV care.

Bloodstream infections (BSI) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Bloodstream infections are also costly and result in prolonged hospital stays. The duration of therapy necessary to clear blood stream infections is unknown and no study has systematically addressed this issue. However, the use of antimicrobials is not without consequence. These include financial cost, side-effects, promotion of superinfection (especially Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea), and the promotion of microbial resistance. This study hypothesizes that a procalcitonin (host biomarker) and endotoxin (microorganism biomarker) guided treatment plan could significantly decrease unnecessary exposure to antibiotics in patients with bloodstream infections.

RATIONALE: Gathering information about human papillomavirus infection of the mouth in young men may help doctors learn more about risk factors for oropharyngeal cancer. PURPOSE: This research study is assessing human papillomavirus infection of the mouth in young men and risk factors for oropharyngeal cancer.