Carmine Rossi

University of British Columbia | UBC · Centre for Disease Control

Background There are limited data on the real-world effectiveness of direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment in patients coinfected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV—a population with complex challenges including ongoing substance use, cirrhosis, and other comorbidities. We assessed how patient characteristics and the appropriateness of HCV regi...

Background Severe food insecurity (FI) is common among individuals living with HIV-hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infection. We hypothesize that the injection of opioids is partly responsible for the association between injection drug use and severe FI. This analysis examines whether methadone maintenance treatment for opioid dependence is associated w...

Objective: To examine the impact of sustained virologic response (SVR) and illicit (injection and non-injection) drug use on kidney function among hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV co-infected individuals. Design: Longitudinal observational cohort study of HCV-HIV co-infected patients. Methods: Data from 1,631 patients enrolled in the Canadian C...

Background Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has reduced mortality from AIDS-related illnesses and chronic comorbidities have become prevalent among HIV-infected patients. We examined the association between hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infection and chronic kidney disease (CKD) among patients initiating modern antiretroviral therapy. Methods...

Background Highly effective hepatitis C virus (HCV) therapies have spurred a rapid scale up of treatment to populations at greater risk of reinfection after sustained virologic response (SVR). Reinfection may be higher in HIV-HCV co-infection but prior studies have considered small selected populations. We assessed risk factors for reinfection afte...

Objective: To examine the association between injection cocaine use, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and chronic renal impairment (CRI). Design: Prospective observational cohort study of HIV-HCV co-infected patients. Methods: Data from 1,129 participants in the Canadian Co-Infection Cohort with baseline and follow-up serum creatinine measure...

SUMMARY Varicella occurs at an older age in tropical compared to cold climates. Migrants from tropical countries provide the opportunity to gain insights into observed global differences in varicella epidemiology. Severity of varicella increases with age thus, description of risk factors for varicella susceptibility will identify those who would be...

Immigrants have increased mortality from hepatocellular carcinoma as compared to the host populations, primarily due to undetected chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Despite this, there are no systematic programs in most immigrant-receiving countries to screen for chronic HBV infection and immigrants are not routinely offered HBV vaccinatio...

International migrants experience increased mortality from hepatocellular carcinoma compared to host populations, largely due to undetected chronic hepatitis B infection (HBV). We conducted a systematic review of the seroprevalence of chronic HBV and prior immunity in migrants arriving in low HBV prevalence countries to identify those at highest ri...

Montreal, Canada, has a mean annual tuberculosis (TB) incidence of 9 per 100,000 population, 1996-2007. To characterise potential Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission by patient subgroups defined by age, sex, birthplace, smear and human immunodeficiency virus status, and to estimate the proportion of cases that resulted from transmission between...

Montreal is Canada's second-largest city, where mean annual tuberculosis (TB) incidence from 1996 to 2007 was 8.9/100,000. The objectives of this study were to describe the epidemiology of TB among homeless persons in Montreal and assess patterns of transmission and sharing of key locations. We reviewed demographic, clinical, and microbiologic data...