Yoan Alemán Campos

University of Havana

Introduction: Unlike most high-income countries where subtype B viruses predominate, the Cuban HIV-1 epidemic is characterized by a great diversity of subtypes and circulating recombinant forms. Some studies have shown that HIV variants exhibiting a preference for the CXCR4 co-receptor (X4-tropic) could have impacts on disease pathogenesis, with c...

Background: High levels of acquired drug resistance have been reported in Cuban HIV-1 infected patients. The aim of this study is to determine the levels of primary HIV drug resistance in newly diagnosed Cuban´s patients. Material and methods: Demographic, clinical and laboratory data were collected from 225 newly diagnosed HIV-1 patients from Cuba...

HIV-1 antiretroviral resistance and its relation to subtype distribution in Cuba. 2009-2014.

Introduction: Intradermal (id) fractional Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine (fIPV, 1/5th of normal IPV dose) is safe and immunogenic, however, id administration is perceived as difficult. We compared fIPV immunogenicity administered id or intramuscularly (im). Methods: This non-inferiority trial was conducted among polio-vaccine naïve Cuban infants...

Background: Inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) alone does not induce mucosal immunity. However, it was hypothesized that administration of IPV together with bivalent (types 1+3) oral poliovirus vaccine (bOPV) may stimulate mucosal cross-immunity to poliovirus type 2 (PV2). Methods: Cuban infants were randomized to receive either one dose of IP...

The V3 loop of the HIV-1 envelope (env) gene is involved in binding to the chemokine receptors CCR5 and CXCR4, thus determining viral tropism. With the aim of genetically characterizing the C2V3 env region of HIV-1 samples from Cuban patients, naive to Maraviroc (MVC) therapy, 115 plasma samples were taken in the period of 2014–6 and analyzed by se...

INTRODUCTION By the end of 2017, there were more than 28,000 individuals living with HIV in Cuba, over 80% receiving antiretroviral therapy, which dramatically reduces viral replication, improves immune status and decreases risk of transmission. These results could be jeopardized by emergence of HIV-1 drug resistance. In 2009, a test for HIV-1 geno...

INTRODUCTION By the end of 2017, there were more than 28,000 individuals living with HIV in Cuba, over 80% receiving antiretroviral therapy, which dramatically reduces viral replication, improves immune status and decreases risk of transmission. These results could be jeopardized by emergence of HIV-1 drug resistance. In 2009, a test for HIV-1 geno...

RESUMEN. Antecedentes: Más de 24.000 personas están viviendo con el VIH en Cuba y más del 70% estaban recibiendo tratamiento antirretroviral a finales de 2015. Estudios previos han informado una incidencia alarmante de subtipos no B y de resistencia del VIH-1 a los antirretrovirales (ARV) en Cuba. En países con amplios recursos, los pacientes con V...

The aim of the present study was to gather information regarding the molecular epidemiology of Human papillomavirus (HPV) and related risk factors in a group of women with low-and high-grade cervical lesions and cancer from the coastal region of Ecuador. In addition, we studied the evolution of HPV variants from the most prevalent types and provide...

Introduction: R5-tropic viruses predominated at the time of initial HIV-1 infection and a switch to X4-tropic occurs in about 50% of patients in late-stage disease. Objective: To associate different variants of Cuban HIV-1 with the co-receptor use, and the implication for the use of co-receptor inhibitors. Methodology: Viral HIV-1 subtype was deter...

As commercial human immunodeficiency virus type 1 drug resistance assays are expensive, they are not commonly used in resource-limited settings. Hence, a more affordable in-house procedure was set up taking into account the specific epidemiological and economic circumstances of Cuba. The performance characteristics of the in-house assay were evalua...

Clinicians reported an increasing trend of rapid progression (RP) (AIDS within 3 years of infection) in Cuba. Recently infected patients were prospectively sampled, 52 RP at AIDS diagnosis (AIDS-RP) and 21 without AIDS in the same time frame (non-AIDS). 22 patients were sampled at AIDS diagnosis (chronic-AIDS) retrospectively assessed as > 3 years...

Impacto de la infección por Papilomavirus humanos en el desarrollo de lesiones precursoras de cáncer en individuos cubanos. La presente investigación pretende esclarecer el impacto de la infección por Papilomavirus humanos (PVH), específicamente los genotipos oncogénicos de PVH, en diferentes grupos de la población cubana y su papel en el desarroll...

Introduction: Emergence of HIV-1 drug resistance may limit the sustained benefits of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in settings with limited laboratory monitoring and drug options. The objective is to implement the surveillance of drug resistance and subtypes in HIV-1 patients failing ART in Cuba. Methods: This study compiled clinical and genotypic d...

Los estudios serológicos y moleculares del VIH-1 en Cuba han mostrado una seropositividad muy baja, pero una creciente diversidad genética, debido a la introducción de un amplio número de variantes del VIH-1 de diferentes áreas geográficas, a la convivencia de las personas que viven con VIH en comunidades, a la concurrencia de más de una vía de con...

En Cuba, durante el período 2006-2010 la influenza estacional y la neumonía constituyeron la cuarta causa de muerte, panorama marcado por la detección del virus pandémico influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 en el año 2009. La forma severa de la enfermedad producida por el virus pandémico prevaleció en las personas menores de 55 años de edad a nivel mundial, hec...

This study aimed to provide information about the molecular epidemiology of human papillomavirus (HPV) in a group of Cuban women. DNA from cervical samples was analyzed using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which detects 6 of the clinically most relevant high-risk HPV types. Furthermore, end point PCR and sequencing were p...

Despite the progress has been reached with Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) research, there are gaps in the knowledge of viral induced oncogenesis. The aim of the present study was to identify possible associations between HHV-8 subtypes, HHV-8 loads and clinical manifestations of HIV infected patients diagnosed with different malignancies associated wi...

In Cuba, antiretroviral therapy rollout started in 2001 and antiretroviral therapy coverage has reached almost 40% since then. The objectives of this study were therefore to analyze subtype distribution, and level and patterns of drug resistance in therapy-naive HIV-1 patients. Four hundred and one plasma samples were collected from HIV-1 therapy-n...

In 2009, genotypic drug resistance testing was introduced for HIV-1 patients failing antiviral therapy in Cuba. The high prevalence of drug resistance in this population indicated the need for surveillance of transmitted drug resistance (TDR) in therapy-naïve patients. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to analyze the level and patterns o...

Between 1986 and 2011, 100 children have been diagnosed with HIV-1 in Cuba. 38 have acquired HIV-1 by vertical transmission, 6 by blood transfusion and 56 by sexual contacts (teenager). Currently, AZT/D4T + 3TC + NVP/KALETRA are available for the treatment of pediatric patients. The aim of the study was to monitor the subtype distribution and emerg...

Emergence of HIV-1 drug resistance may limit the sustained benefits of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in settings with limited laboratory monitoring and drug options. Surveillance of drug resistance and subtypes in HIV-1 patients failing ART in Cuba. This study compiled data of ART-experienced HIV-1 patients attending a clinical center in Havana in 2...

To evaluate the temporal distribution (1991-2009) and associated variation of KSHV subtypes in Cuba. Phylogenetic characterization based on the KSHV K1 gene was performed using 90 KSHV positive samples. Molecular characterization confirmed the prevalence of a wide range of KSHV subtypes (A: n=48 [A5=12]; C: n=15; B: n=22; and E: n=5). In the curren...

El objetivo de este trabajo fue normalizar e implementar un sistema de reacción en cadena de la polimerasa en tiempo real, para determinar la carga viral de 7 genotipos de papilomavirus humano (PVH) de alto riesgo oncogénico. Se evaluó la especificidad del sistema y se construyeron las curvas estándar para PVH 16 y 18, que se emplearon para la cuan...

The objective of the present study is to standardize a real-time based polymerase chain reaction system in order to detect and quantify 7 high risk human papillomavirus in different clinical samples from patients suspected of this type of infection. The validation of a 5' exonuclease fluorescent probe real-time PCR assay (TaqMan format) for the det...

We investigated the frequency of BKV, JCV and SV40 reactivation in three groups of Cuban patients by multiplex nested PCR assay of 40 paraffin-embedded colorectal neoplasm tissues, 113 urine samples, and 125 plasma samples from 27 transplant recipients, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 67 HIV-1-infected individuals with central nervous system (CN...

Herpesvirus infections are prevalent worldwide, but most run their course asymptomatically. Clinical presentations in symptomatic cases vary widely and include febrile and mononucleosis-like syndromes. In immunocompromised patients, herpetic infection can be lethal and routine laboratory tests are of little use. Use of novel techniques may provide...

INTRODUCTION The use of highly active antiretroviral therapy has reduced progression to AIDS and increased survival among seropositive persons; yet, appearance of resistant viruses may jeopardize these benefits. In Cuba, HIV mainly affects adults; at the end of 2009 of the 41 children infected, 25 were still alive; of these, 22 were under antiretro...

In Cuba, previous reports have shown an increase of epidemic KS, reaching a total of 120 cases by the end of 2007, despite the use of HAART. To evaluate and compare the role of human herpes virus 8 (HHV-8) viral loads in different compartments of AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma (AIDS-KS) patients real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used...

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) has established itself as the most significant cause of congenital infection in the developed world. The objective of this research was prenatal identification of pregnant women at risk for developing active infection due to HCMV as well as to diagnose congenitally infected newborns. A diagnostic algorithm based on spec...

To evaluate the pathogenic mechanisms and transmission routes involved in KSHV infection in 22 Cuban individuals who maintained close contact with epidemic KS patients, real-time PCR was used to quantify KSHV-DNA in clinical samples of plasma, saliva and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). KSHV-DNA was detected in 72.7% (16/22) of the contac...

To prenatally identify pregnant women at risk of developing congenital infection due to human cytomegalovirus (HCMV). One thousand one hundred and thirty-one pregnant women from three municipalities from Havana City were serologically screened for HCMV infection (IgM/IgG, IgG avidity) from January 2007 to January 2008. Demographical, epidemiologica...