Infectious diseases are the leading cause of death globally, particularly among children and young adults. The spread of new pathogens and the threat of antimicrobial resistance pose particular challenges in combating these diseases. Major Infectious Diseases identifies feasible, cost-effective packages of interventions and strategies across delivery platforms to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted infections, tuberculosis, malaria, adult febrile illness, viral hepatitis, and neglected tropical diseases. The volume emphasizes the need to effectively address emerging antimicrobial resistance, strengthen health systems, and increase access to care. The attainable goals are to reduce incidence, develop innovative approaches, and optimize existing tools in resource-constrained settings.

In this issue of Infectious Disease Clinics of North America, guest editors Dr. Daniel A. Solomon and Paul E. Sax bring their considerable expertise to the topic of Advances in the Management of HIV. Top experts in the field review the state of the art in HIV treatment and prevention, discuss challenges and opportunities in reaching especially vulnerable populations, identify treatment challenges in an aging population, and look into the future of antiretroviral therapy, vaccine development, and training the next generation of the HIV workforce. - Contains 14 relevant, practice-oriented topics including the pipeline of antiretroviral therapy; HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis; HIV vaccine: promise and challenges; progress in the search for an HIV cure; HIV in the South: an epidemic within an epidemic; and more. - Provides in-depth clinical reviews on advances in the management of HIV, offering actionable insights for clinical practice. - Presents the latest information on this timely, focused topic under the leadership of experienced editors in the field. Authors synthesize and distill the latest research and practice guidelines to create clinically significant, topic-based reviews.

Infection Prevention and Control in Healthcare, Part I: Facility Planning, An Issue of Infectious Disease Clinics of North America, E-Book

Increased HIV screening may help identify more people with the disease, but there may not be enough resources to provide them with the care they need. The Institute of Medicine's Committee on HIV Screening and Access to Care concludes that more practitioners must be trained in HIV/AIDS care and treatment and their hospitals, clinics, and health departments must receive sufficient funding to meet a growing demand for care.

Histoplasmosis is a disease caused by the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum. This disease is highly endemic in some regions of North America, Central America, and South America and is also reported in certain countries of Asia and Africa. It often affects people with impaired immunity, including people living with HIV, among whom the most frequent clinical presentation is disseminated histoplasmosis. The symptoms of disseminated histoplasmosis are non-specific and may be indistinguishable from those of other infectious diseases, especially disseminated tuberculosis (TB), thus complicating diagnosis and treatment. Histoplasmosis is one of the most frequent opportunistic infections caused by fungal pathogens among people living with HIV in the Americas and may be responsible for 5-15% of AIDS-related deaths every year in this Region. These guidelines aim to provide recommendations for the diagnosis, treatment, and management of disseminated histoplasmosis in persons living with HIV. Although the burden of disease is concentrated in the Americas, the recommendations presented within these guidelines are applicable globally. These guidelines were produced in accordance with the World Health Organization (WHO) handbook for guideline development. The Guideline Development Group elaborated the final recommendations based on a systematic review of scientific literature and critical evaluation of the evidence available using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. These guidelines are intended for health-care providers, HIV program managers, policy-makers, national treatment advisory boards, researchers, and other professionals involved in caring for people who either have or may be at risk of developing disseminated histoplasmosis.

In collaboration with Consulting Editor, Dr. Helen Boucher, Dr. Paul Edward Sax has put together a state-of the-art issue of the Infectious Disease Clinics of North America devoted to HIV. Clinical review articles from expert authors are specifically devoted to the following topics: HIV Diagnostics -- Current Recommendations and Opportunities for Improvement; Update on HIV Prevention -- PreP, PEP, and Other Strategies; Initial Assessment -- What Tests to Order and Why; Why Everyone (Almost) with HIV Needs to be on Treatment -- A Review of the Critical Data; Initial Therapy in the Integrase Inhibitor Era -- Can We Do Better than Two NRTIs plus an INSTI?; Switching Therapy in Patients with Virologic Suppression -- A Why and a How-To Guide; Management of Treatment Failure, With and Without Resistance; Reproduction Options for People with HIV, and Management of Pregnancy; HIV and Addiction – the Role of the ID Clinician; Management of Patients with Advanced HIV Disease – Challenges and Opportunities; HIV and Aging – Focus on Cardiovascular Risk and Metabolic Abnormalities; Key Principles in HIV Pharmacology; One Patient Has Been Cured of HIV – Will There Ever Be More?; and Linkage and Retention in Care – The Keys to Treatment Success. Readers will come away with the latest information they need to manage diagnosis, treatment and outcomes of HIV patients.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses a screening tool called the Listing of Impairments to identify claimants who are so severely impaired that they cannot work at all and thus qualify for disability benefits. In this report, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) makes several recommendations for improving SSA's capacity for determining disability benefits more accurately and quickly using the HIV Infection Listings.