Long acting antiretroviral drugs represent a promising approach for chronic treatment of HIV infection. Here, we study the efficacy and safety of albuvirtide (ABT), an HIV-1 fusion inhibitor with a half life of 11–12 days in human. ABT was evaluated in a 7-week, open-label and randomized trial, combining with LPV/r. Twenty HIV-1-infected adults were assigned to two dose groups, receiving ABT (160 or 320 mg) given weekly and LPV/r given twice daily. At week 7, the decline of HIV-1 RNA from baseline was 1.9 (1.3–2.3) log10 and 2.2 (1.6–2.7) log10 copies/ml, and suppression of HIV-1 RNA to below 50 copies/ml was achieved in 11.1 % (1/9) and 55.6 % (5/9) patients, for the 160 and 320 mg dose group respectively. A clear dose-efficacy correlation of ABT was demonstrated. ABT combining with LPV/r is a promising two-drug regimen to be tested in larger patient population.

The Ebola virus disease spread rapidly in West Africa in 2014, leading to the loss of thousands of lives. Community engagement was one of the key strategies to interrupt Ebola transmission, and practical community level measures needed to be explored in the field and tailored to the specific context of communities. First, community-level education on Ebola virus disease (EVD) prevention was launched for the community’s social mobilizers in six districts in Sierra Leone beginning in November 2014. Then, from January to May of 2015, in three pilot communities, local trained community members were organized to engage in implementation of EVD prevention and transmission interruption measures, by involving them in alert case report, contact tracing, and social mobilization. The epidemiological indicators of transmission interruption in three study communities were evaluated. A total of 6 016 community social mobilizers from 185 wards were trained by holding 279 workshops in the six districts, and EVD message reached an estimated 631 680 residents. In three pilot communities, 72 EVD alert cases were reported, with 70.8 % of them detected by trained local community members, and 14 EVD cases were finally identified. Contact tracing detected 64.3 % of EVD cases. The median duration of community infectivity for the cases was 1 day. The secondary attack rate was 4.2 %, and no third generation of infection was triggered. No health worker was infected, and no unsafe burial and noncompliance to EVD control measures were recorded. The community-based measures were modeled to reduce 77 EVD cases, and the EVD-free goal was achieved four months earlier in study communities than whole country of Sierra Leone. The community-based strategy of social mobilization and community engagement was effective in case detection and reducing the extent of Ebola transmission in a country with weak health system. The successfully practical experience to reduce the risk of Ebola transmission in the community with poor resources would potentially be helpful for the global community to fight against the EVD and the other diseases in the future.

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B*5701 is strongly associated with developing a hypersensitivity reaction to abacavir (ABC). Limited data exist on HLA-B*5701 prevalence in HIV-1-infected subjects in China. We investigated HLA-B*5701 prevalence in HIV-1-infected population including Han and non-Han ethnic groups. A prospective multi-centre study was designed to determine status of HLA-B*5701 in HIV-1-infected adults at six sites across China. HLA-B*5701 was tested by the method of PCR-SSP. From six centers, 3,000 HIV-infected patients [2,452 (81.7%) Han, 548 (18.3%) Non-Han] were recruited with a mean age of 36.7 years old. The overall HLA-B*5701 prevalence was 0.86% [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.55–1.26%]. The prevalence of HLA-B*5701 among Han subjects was similar to that among non-Han subjects, which was 0.88% (95% CI 0.54–1.34%) and 0.76% (95% CI 0.19–1.93%), respectively (p value = 0.787). There were no differences in prevalence of HLA-B*5701 between subjects born in Henan, Yunnan, Shanxi, Guangdong, Hebei, Beijing and other provinces (p = 0.999). HLA-B*5701 prevalence is very low in HIV-infected Chinese subjects, both in the Han and Non-Han nationalities. And there are no differences among different birthplaces across China.