Men who have sex with men (MSM) are one of the key populations driving HIV/AIDS epidemic globally. To date, MSM is the only population in Ukraine where the prevalence and incidence of HIV is increasing. As HIV-positive MSM might feel uncomfortable to report homosexual intercourses as a possible mode of transmission (MoT) of HIV, they prefer being registered as patients with heterosexual or non-defined MoT. This study aimed to calculate the proportion of misclassified MoT among HIV-positive MSM registered in Lviv oblast, Ukraine, during 2014-2018.

Cross-sectional study with 127 HIV-positive MSM patients from Lviv region for the period of 2014-2018.

Out of 127 HIV-positive MSM included in the study, 110 (86.6%) were from urban areas. In addition, 52 patients (40.9%) were diagnosed with stage 1 HIV, 16 (12.6%) - stage 2, 19 (15%) - stage 3, and 36 (28.3%) - stage 4. CD4 count < 200 cells/μL was found in 35 (27.6%) patients. Mean time from registration to antiretroviral therapy initiation was 80 days. During the first visit to medical doctor out of those 48 patients who had previously reported "other modes" of HIV transmission, 33 patients (68.7%) disclosed homosexual MoT of HIV. The remaining 15 (31.3%) patients disclosed their homosexual MoT of HIV later - during their regular follow-up visits to the doctor.

Special measures are needed to improve the reporting of homosexual MoT which can potentially strengthen the HIV care among MSM.
Special measures are needed to improve the reporting of homosexual MoT which can potentially strengthen the HIV care among MSM.
HIV/TB comorbidity is responsible for 1.6 million deaths worldwide. HIV/TB control and patients' survival are still among priorities of the national HIV and TB programs. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/azd3514.html We aimed to evaluate the HIV/TB survival in connection with TB treatment outcomes and factors influencing life duration of the cohort 2008-2018 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

This retrospective cohort study extracted data for all HIV and pulmonary TB adults coinfected during 2008-2018 in Almaty from national registries to apply descriptive, Kaplan-Meier estimation, and Cox proportional hazards regression model. Survival function for the TB treatment outcomes and factors predicting the probability of survival were tested and described.

The cohort population (n = 521) mean age was 37.4 years with 405 (77.7%) males and 210 (40.3%) marrieds. More than one TB treatment had 181 (34.7%) patients, 291 (55.9%) were smear-positive (SS+), and 423 (81.2%) were on antiretroviral therapy with mean CD4 count 254.22cells/µL. Probability to live longer was higher (128 versus 37 months, p = 0.003; 95% confidence interval (CI) 71.65, 184.35) for those who succeeded in TB treatment compared to "lost to follow-up" and "failed" treatment outcomes. Adjusted Cox regression model death hazard showed association with missing ART treatment (HR 1.699, 95%CI 1.164, 2.481, p = 0.006) and having CD4 count < 499 (HR 2.398, 95%CI 1.191, 4.830, p < 0.014).

TB treatment outcomes, ART treatment, and the CD4 count of HIV/TB coinfected population substantially influence their life duration. The medical decision- and policy-makers should take this into consideration when implementing targeted improvements in the national HIV and TB programs.
TB treatment outcomes, ART treatment, and the CD4 count of HIV/TB coinfected population substantially influence their life duration. The medical decision- and policy-makers should take this into consideration when implementing targeted improvements in the national HIV and TB programs.
Tuberculosis (TB) contact investigation as a proved approach for finding new TB cases, is not fully performed in Kyrgyzstan. In 2018, the country started aligning the National Guidelines for tracking contacts with the WHO recommendations by expanding the definition for TB index cases to all close contacts, regardless of their TB risk status.

This cross-sectional census aimed to determine the active case detection changes among TB contacts after implementation of a new TB tracing strategy using the National Surveillance data. We compared populations in Chui and Issyk-Kul regions of Kyrgyzstan who had contacts with TB index cases before (2017) and after (2018) strategic changes for the rates of indexes, contacts, screened contacts, and detected TB among screened contacts.

New TB tracing strategy resulted in increased numbers of indexes (21%) and contacts (36%). Though the smaller number of contacts (1730 vs. 1590) have been screened in 2018, the proportion of TB diagnosed was substantially higher (95% CI 0.024-0.005; p = 0.002) in 2018 vs. 2017. The mean numbers of TB contacts per-one-index-case also has increased dramatically by 117% (1.8 vs. 3.9) in Chui and by 43% (3.0 vs. 4.3) in Issyk-Kul regions (95% CI 3.20-3.37; p < 0.001 and 95% CI 2.97-3.09; p < 0.001, respectively) between 2018 and 2017.

Extending new tracing approach to other regions of Kyrgyzstan will increase the number of identified contacts, leading to better TB control in the country and prevention of more severe TB development among the unidentified contacts.
Extending new tracing approach to other regions of Kyrgyzstan will increase the number of identified contacts, leading to better TB control in the country and prevention of more severe TB development among the unidentified contacts.
Tuberculosis (TB) is a global public health problem. The incidence of TB is especially high among TB key populations, such as the homeless, people who use drugs, prisoners, and migrants. The study aimed to assess the associations between affiliation to TB key populations and treatment outcome.

This retrospective cross-sectional study used data extracted from the National TB Registry of Kyrgyzstan for the region of Chuy (including the city of Bishkek) for 2015-2017. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize the data. Logistic regression was used to assess the associations.

The study included 1,526 patients among whom more than half (52.5%) fell into the youngest group (18-35 years old). Migrants were the most highly represented group comprising 67.8% of all TB key populations. Men (63.0%) and patients with pulmonary TB (83.0%) prevailed in the cohort. The proportions of patients who had completed the treatment were high among all the key populations. Logistic regression was used to assess the association between affiliation to a certain TB key population and the TB treatment outcome.