Publications
Relapses in multibacillary leprosy patients after stopping treatment with rifampin-containing combined regimens Institute of Tropical Medicine
Hepatotoxicity of the combination of rifampin-ethionamide in the treatment of multibacillary leprosy Institute of Tropical Medicine
Short-course chemotherapy with TMC207 and rifapentine in a murine model of latent tuberculosis infection University of Antwerp
Buruli ulcer: advances in understanding Mycobacterium ulcerans infection Institute of Tropical Medicine
Recent advances in leprosy and Buruli ulcer (Mycobacterium ulcerans infection) Institute of Tropical Medicine
Spot specimen testing with GeneXpert MTB/RIF results compared to morning specimen in a programmatic setting in Cotonou, Benin Institute of Tropical Medicine
BACKGROUND: The diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) using smear microscopy has been based on testing two specimens: one spot and one early morning sputa. Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended to replace, whenever possible, microscopy with GeneXpert® MTB/RIF performed on a single specimen. However, as the bacterial load is higher in early morning specimens than in spot specimens, one could expect lower sensitivity of ...
Quantifying transmission fitness costs of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis Institute of Tropical Medicine
As multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) continues to spread, investigating the transmission potential of different drug-resistant strains becomes an ever more pressing topic in public health. While phylogenetic and transmission tree inferences provide valuable insight into possible transmission chains, phylodynamic inference combines evolutionary and epidemiological analyses to estimate the parameters of the underlying epidemiological ...
Chronic Brucella Infection Induces Selective and Persistent Interferon Gamma-Dependent Alterations of Marginal Zone Macrophages in the Spleen Vrije Universiteit Brussel
The spleen is known as an important filter for blood-borne pathogens that are trapped by specialized macrophages in the marginal zone (MZ): the CD209(+) MZ macrophages (MZMs) and the CD169(+) marginal metallophilic macrophages (MMMs). Acute systemic infection strongly impacts MZ populations and the location of T and B lymphocytes. This phenomenon has been linked to reduced chemokine secretion by stromal cells. Brucella spp. are the causative ...
Results at 30 months of a randomised trial of FDCs and separate drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis Institute of Tropical Medicine University of Antwerp
Study C was an open-label, non-inferiority, randomised controlled trial of fixed-dose combination (FDC) or separate drugs given during the intensive phase of treatment to 1585 patients with smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis conducted at 11 sites in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Thirty months post-randomisation, the failure/relapse rates in the per protocol population were 7.4% of 591 patients on FDCs and 6.5% of 587 patients on separate ...