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Article
Canada’s approach to SARS-CoV-2 sero-surveillance: Lessons learned for routine surveillance and future pandemics
In Canada’s federated healthcare system, 13 provincial and territorial jurisdictions have independent responsibility to collect data to inform health policies. During the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2023), nationa...
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Article
Open AccessAdaptive immune responses to two-dose COVID-19 vaccine series in healthy Canadian adults ≥ 50 years: a prospective, observational cohort study
To evaluate immune responses to COVID-19 vaccines in adults aged 50 years and older, spike protein (S)-specific antibody concentration, avidity, and function (via angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) inhibit...
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Article
Open AccessExpanding access to healthcare for people who use drugs and sex workers: hepatitis C elimination implications from a qualitative study of healthcare experiences in British Columbia, Canada
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major health threat in Canada. In British Columbia (BC) province, 1.6% of the population had been exposed to HCV by 2012. Prevalence and incidence of HCV are very high in populatio...
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Article
Open AccessFactors associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection in unvaccinated children and young adults
Pediatric COVID-19 cases are often mild or asymptomatic, which has complicated estimations of disease burden using existing testing practices. We aimed to determine the age-specific population seropositivity a...
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Article
Open AccessUptake of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination among structurally-marginalized people who use drugs in Vancouver, Canada
We sought to evaluate the rates and predictors of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination among members of a structurally-marginalized population of people who use drugs (PWUD) during a targeted, community-wide, vaccination ca...
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Article
Open AccessBugSplit enables genome-resolved metagenomics through highly accurate taxonomic binning of metagenomic assemblies
A large gap remains between sequencing a microbial community and characterizing all of the organisms inside of it. Here we develop a novel method to taxonomically bin metagenomic assemblies through alignment o...
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Article
Open AccessGlobal phylogeny of Treponema pallidum lineages reveals recent expansion and spread of contemporary syphilis
Syphilis, which is caused by the sexually transmitted bacterium Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum, has an estimated 6.3 million cases worldwide per annum. In the past ten years, the incidence of syphilis has inc...
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Article
Open AccessWomen in the 2019 hepatitis C cascade of care: findings from the British Columbia Hepatitis Testers cohort study
Women living with hepatitis C virus (HCV) are rarely addressed in research and may be overrepresented within key populations requiring additional support to access HCV care and treatment. We constructed the H...
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Article
The Impact of Treatment as Prevention on the HIV Epidemic in British Columbia, Canada
This study proposes to describe the impact of a publicly funded Treatment as Prevention (TasP) strategy in British Columbia (BC), Canada, in decreasing the individual and public health impact of the HIV/AIDS E...
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Article
HIV serology signal-to-cutoff ratio as a rapid method to predict confirmation of HIV infection
Early and rapid detection of patients with HIV is a key to preventing further transmission. The purpose of this study was to assess the ability of signal-to-cutoff (S/CO) ratio from initial screening fourth-ge...
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Article
Open AccessHepatitis C cross-genotype immunity and implications for vaccine development
While about a quarter of individuals clear their primary hepatitis C (HCV) infections spontaneously, clearance (spontaneous or treatment-induced) does not confer sterilizing immunity against a future infection...
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Article
Open AccessTreatment outcomes for isoniazid-resistant tuberculosis under program conditions in British Columbia, Canada
Every year, over 1 million people develop isoniazid (INH) resistant tuberculosis (TB). Yet, the optimal treatment regimen remains unclear. Given increasing prevalence, the clinical efficacy of regimens used by...
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Article
Open AccessDisease detection and resource use in the safety and control arms of the HPV FOCAL cervical cancer screening trial
The HPV FOCAL Trial is a RCT comparing human papilloma virus (HPV) with Liquid Based Cytology (LBC) screening for cervical cancer. Results are presented for the comparison of the Safety and Control arms after ...
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Article
Open AccessTwin epidemics of new and prevalent hepatitis C infections in Canada: BC Hepatitis Testers Cohort
We characterized the twin epidemics of new and prevalent hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections in British Columbia, Canada to inform prevention, care and treatment programs.
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Article
Open AccessComparison of the Roche cobas® 4800 and Digene Hybrid Capture® 2 HPV tests for primary cervical cancer screening in the HPV FOCAL trial
HPV FOCAL is a randomized trial (ISRCTN79347302, registered 20 Apr 2007) comparing high-risk (hr) HPV testing vs. liquid-based cytology (LBC) for cervical cancer screening of women aged 25–65. We compared the ...
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Article
Open AccessWomen’s intentions to self-collect samples for human papillomavirus testing in an organized cervical cancer screening program
Mounting evidence affirms HPV testing as an effective cervical cancer screening tool, and many organized screening programs are considering adopting it as primary testing. HPV self-collection has comparable se...
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Article
Open AccessSelf-collected versus clinician-collected sampling for sexually transmitted infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol
Three meta-analyses and one systematic review have been conducted on the question of whether self-collected specimens are as accurate as clinician-collected specimens for STI screening. However, these reviews ...
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Article
Open AccessMortality among British Columbians testing for hepatitis C antibody
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major preventable and treatable cause of morbidity and mortality. The ability to link population based centralized laboratory HCV testing data with administrative databas...
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Article
Open AccessTowards targeted screening for acute HIV infections in British Columbia
Our objective was to describe the characteristics of acute and established HIV infections diagnosed in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Province-wide HIV testing and surveillance data were analyzed t...
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Article
Open AccessHCV co-infection in HIV positive population in British Columbia, Canada
As HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) share some modes of transmission co-infection is not uncommon. This study used a population-based sample of HIV and HCV tested individuals to determine the prevalence of HIV/HCV co...
