Reviewer's report
Title:Susceptibility to intestinal infection and diarrhoea in Zambian adults in
relation to HIV status and CD4 count
Version: 1Date:3 July 2008
Reviewer: Gilbert R Kaufmann
Reviewer's report:
The study has been conducted in an interesting location, but the data need a lot
of clarification. The introduction is very interesting and informative. However, the
results section is very shortly described and incomplete. In particular, certain
comments from findings in the literature are mentioned in the introduction and in
the discussion, but no data are shown in the results section. What are the new
findings of this study? This needs to be worked out more clearly. Although
interesting, I believe that paper needs a major revision.
A table with the patient demographics is missing. How many patients were
children? Were children more susceptible to gastrointestinal infections?
It would be interesting to show CD4 T-cell count and the occurrence of
HIV-associated gastrointestinal infections.
What is the exact definition of diarrhoea? It would be important to mention the
definition in the Methods section.
Why is the prevalence of diarrhea not higher in HIV positive patients? I think that
this finding needs an explanation.
Why was serum retinol concentration measured?
What are the results of the questions asked by study nurses?
How many patients had co-infections?
58 patients were HIV seropositive at one time or another: what is meant by
‘another time’?
Certain non-pathogenic protozoa were less common in HIV-1 infected adults:
which ones and why?
What are the new results from this study? This needs to be explained in more
detail in the discussion section.
What is the percentage of co-infections in patients?
Overall 14 of 123 individuals had CD4 counts under 200 cells/mcL: why 123
individuals?
Are certain pathogens more common in this cohort than in European countries or
in the US?
In particular, it would be interesting to have an analysis of the age of the patient
and the occurrence of gastrointestinal infections (children vs adults).
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
Reviewer's report
Title:Susceptibility to intestinal infection and diarrhoea in Zambian adults in
relation to HIV status and CD4 count
Version: 1Date:3 July 2008
Reviewer: Gilbert R Kaufmann
Reviewer's report:
The study has been conducted in an interesting location, but the data need a lot
of clarification. The introduction is very interesting and informative. However, the
results section is very shortly described and incomplete. In particular, certain
comments from findings in the literature are mentioned in the introduction and in
the discussion, but no data are shown in the results section. What are the new
findings of this study? This needs to be worked out more clearly. Although
interesting, I believe that paper needs a major revision.
A table with the patient demographics is missing. How many patients were
children? Were children more susceptible to gastrointestinal infections?
It would be interesting to show CD4 T-cell count and the occurrence of
HIV-associated gastrointestinal infections.
What is the exact definition of diarrhoea? It would be important to mention the
definition in the Methods section.
Why is the prevalence of diarrhea not higher in HIV positive patients? I think that
this finding needs an explanation.
Why was serum retinol concentration measured?
What are the results of the questions asked by study nurses?
How many patients had co-infections?
58 patients were HIV seropositive at one time or another: what is meant by
‘another time’?
Certain non-pathogenic protozoa were less common in HIV-1 infected adults:
which ones and why?
What are the new results from this study? This needs to be explained in more
detail in the discussion section.
What is the percentage of co-infections in patients?
Overall 14 of 123 individuals had CD4 counts under 200 cells/mcL: why 123
individuals?
Are certain pathogens more common in this cohort than in European countries or
in the US?
In particular, it would be interesting to have an analysis of the age of the patient
and the occurrence of gastrointestinal infections (children vs adults).
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report
Title:Susceptibility to intestinal infection and diarrhoea in Zambian adults in
relation to HIV status and CD4 count
Version: 1Date:3 July 2008
Reviewer: Gilbert R Kaufmann
Reviewer's report:
The study has been conducted in an interesting location, but the data need a lot
of clarification. The introduction is very interesting and informative. However, the
results section is very shortly described and incomplete. In particular, certain
comments from findings in the literature are mentioned in the introduction and in
the discussion, but no data are shown in the results section. What are the new
findings of this study? This needs to be worked out more clearly. Although
interesting, I believe that paper needs a major revision.
A table with the patient demographics is missing. How many patients were
children? Were children more susceptible to gastrointestinal infections?
It would be interesting to show CD4 T-cell count and the occurrence of
HIV-associated gastrointestinal infections.
What is the exact definition of diarrhoea? It would be important to mention the
definition in the Methods section.
Why is the prevalence of diarrhea not higher in HIV positive patients? I think that
this finding needs an explanation.
Why was serum retinol concentration measured?
What are the results of the questions asked by study nurses?
How many patients had co-infections?
58 patients were HIV seropositive at one time or another: what is meant by
‘another time’?
Certain non-pathogenic protozoa were less common in HIV-1 infected adults:
which ones and why?
What are the new results from this study? This needs to be explained in more
detail in the discussion section.
What is the percentage of co-infections in patients?
Overall 14 of 123 individuals had CD4 counts under 200 cells/mcL: why 123
individuals?
Are certain pathogens more common in this cohort than in European countries or
in the US?
In particular, it would be interesting to have an analysis of the age of the patient
and the occurrence of gastrointestinal infections (children vs adults).
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
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