View clinical trials related to Communicable Diseases.
Filter by:This study is a 96-week study designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of GW873140 in combination with Kaletra in HIV infected, untreated subjects.
There are biological reasons to suspect that hormones may affect the risk of a woman becoming infected with a sexually transmitted disease. The evidence on this issue to date is mixed and previous studies have methodologic flaws making it difficult to draw conclusions about the results. This study compares the risk of developing either Chlamydial or Gonorrheal infection among three groups of women: those using combined oral contraceptives (birth control pills); those using the injectable hormone (brand name Depo Provera); and those women using non-hormonal contraceptive methods.
The purpose of this study is to provide daptomycin, an antibiotic, to patients who are failing conventional therapy, or who cannot take approved antibiotics for one reason or another.
The purpose of this research study is to test the safety and effectiveness of inhaled Interferon gamma-1b (IFN-g 1b), when administered for 48 weeks and in combination with oral antibiotics which may be administered for up to 72 weeks for the treatment of a lung infection caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium avium complex . FDA has not approved Interferon gamma-1b for use in patients with MAC infection of the lungs, which is the purpose of this study.Interferon gamma-1b and similar proteins play important roles in establishing and maintaining protective immune responses against a variety of microorganisms.
This protocol offers diagnosis and standard medical treatment for various parasitic gastrointestinal infections. Gastrointestinal parasites are either worms (helminths) or one-celled animals called protozoans which live in the human intestines. Often, parasitic infections do not cause illness. In these cases, drug treatment is not indicated, because treatment can have adverse side effects. Patients will be examined for their immune responses, correlation between the number of parasites and disease, and other studies. Individuals with known or suspected parasitic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, including amebiasis, giardiasis, hookworm, strongyloidiasis, trichuriasis, pinworm, tapeworm, trichinosis, clonorchis, opisthorchis, coccidiosis, paragonimiasis, and echinococcus may be eligible for this study. Patient evaluations may include blood and urine tests, stool examination, X-rays, ultrasound studies and, uncommonly, duodenal aspiration for examination of fluid from the duodenum (first part of the small intestine). Other tests may be required, depending on the parasite and disease. Direct examination of the tissues of the intestines may be required to rule out certain infections. Research procedures include collection of stool, blood and duodenal fluid when the diagnosis has been established and these procedures are not required for medical care. Patients with strongyloidiasis may also be given a diagnostic skin test similar to skin tests for tuberculosis and allergies. Research procedures on children will be limited to collection of stool, urine and blood. No more than 7 milliliters (1 1/2 teaspoons) per kilogram (2.2 pounds) body weight of blood will be collected in children over a 6-week period. In adults no more than 30 tablespoons of blood will be collected in a 6-week period. Parasites may fail to respond to treatment. In these cases, it may be necessary to grow the parasite in the laboratory in order to test treatments in the test tube. Patients who do not respond to standard medications and dosing may need different doses of drugs or drugs or combinations of drugs used in the United States for other medical problems. If these medications or doses are used, patients will be informed of their possible side effects.
To evaluate the safety of anti-HIV CTL therapy in early stage patients and to verify the safety when combined with antiviral therapy with zidovudine/lamivudine/indinavir and low-dose interleukin-2 (IL-2). To compare the effects on plasma and cell-associated viral load following combination drug therapy with and without antiviral CTL in early-stage patients. To study in detail the immune effects of lowering viral burden with antiviral combination drugs with and without T cell infusion on antiviral CTL activity, viral suppression and proliferation, circulating T cell phenotype, T cell apoptosis, CD4 cell numbers, DTH reaction, and inflammatory cytokine levels. In an HIV-infected person, there is an ongoing struggle between HIV replication and host immune control. In the past decade most therapeutic strategies have targeted the virus. This approach has been frustrated by viral mutation to evade drug sensitivity. Promising drugs have recently been approved and there are encouraging sustained results from combination antiviral chemotherapy. However, even the most potent drug regimens do not seem to be curative, may eventually lead to drug resistance and may not completely restore lost immune function. The addition of immune-based therapy to antiviral drugs may lead to better viral control.