Objectives:To assess whether bipolar disorders are associated with the risk of HIV infection and whether the risk of bipolar disorders is increased among people with HIV (PWH) and their siblings.Design:Nationwide, population-based, combined matched nested case-control and cohort study of PWH of Danish origin (1995-2021), a comparison cohort from the background population, matched on date of birth and sex, and sibling cohorts.Methods:Conditional logistic regression and Cox regression was used to calculate adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for HIV infection and hazard ratios among PWH for bipolar disorder and receipt of lithium.Results:We included 5322 PWH and 53 220 comparison cohort members. In the case-control study, bipolar disorder was associated with an increased risk of HIV infection [aOR: 1.9, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.2-3.0], especially when injection drug use was the route of infection (aOR: 7.6, 95% CI: 2.0-28.9). In the cohort study, we observed an increased risk of bipolar disorders among PWH, especially in the first 2 years of observation (hazard ratio: 4.2, 95% CI: 2.4-7.4), whereas the risk of receipt of lithium was lower and the CI crossed 1. The 20-year risk of bipolar disorders for PWH was approximately 1%. Siblings of PWH also had an increased risk of bipolar disorder but not to the same degree as PWH and not of receipt of lithium.Conclusion:Bipolar disorders are associated with the risk of HIV infection, and PWH have increased risk of bipolar disorder and receipt of lithium beyond what familial factors could explain.

Anaplasmosis is caused by the tick-borne bacterium Anaplasma phagocytophilum. In this case report, a 73-year-old immunocompetent male was admitted with high fever, headache and fatigue following a tick bite. The patient had hyperinflammation and an intense 18F-fluordeoxyglucose uptake in the spleen and bone marrow. The patient's symptoms subsided without specific treatment. A. phagocytophilum was identified by use of amplicon-based 16S/18S rDNA next generation-sequencing of DNA extracted from ethylenediamine tetraacetic (EDTA) blood. This test may serve a role in the diagnosis of fever following tick bite in the future.

We present a case report detailing therapeutic application of two lytic antipseudomonal bacteriophages to treat a chronic relapsing Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection of a prosthetic aortic graft. As there are currently no Danish laboratories offering phages for clinical therapy, and this case, to our knowledge represents the first applied phage therapy in Denmark, the practical and regulatory aspects of offering this treatment option in Denmark is briefly reviewed along with the clinical case.

Background Survival among people with HIV (PWH) has vastly improved globally over the last few decades but remains lower than among the general population. We aimed to estimate time trends of survival among PWH and their families from 1995 to 2021. Methods We conducted a registry-based, nationwide, population-based, matched cohort study. We included all Danish-born PWH from 1995 to 2021 who had been on antiretroviral therapy for 90 days, did not report intravenous drug use, and were not co-infected with hepatitis C (n = 4168). We matched population controls from the general population 10:1 to PWH by date of birth and sex (n = 41,680). For family cohorts, we identified siblings, mothers, and fathers of PWH and population controls. From Kaplan-Meier tables with age as time scale, we estimated survival from age 25. We compared PWH with population controls and families of PWH with families of population controls to calculate mortality rate ratios adjusted for sex, age, comorbidities, and education (aMRR). Findings The median age of death among PWH increased from 27.5 years in 1995-1997 to 73.9 years (2010-2014), but thereafter survival increased only marginally. From 2015 to 2021, mortality was increased among PWH (aMRR 1.87 (95% CI: 1.65-2.11)) and siblings (aMRR: 1.25 (95% CI: 1.07-1.47)), mothers (aMRR: 1.30 (95% CI: 1.17-1.43)), and fathers (aMRR: 1.15 (95% CI: 1.03-1.29)) of PWH compared to their respective control cohorts. Mortality among siblings of PWH who reported heterosexual route of HIV transmission (aMRR: 1.51 (95% CI: 1.16-1.96)) was higher than for siblings of PWH who reported men who have sex with men as route of HIV transmission (aMRR 1.19 (95% CI: 0.98-1.46)). Interpretation Survival among PWH improved substantially until 2010, after which it increased only marginally. This may partly be due to social and behavioural factors as PWH families also had higher mortality.

Scrub typhus is caused by the mite-borne bacterium Orientia tsutsugamushi. Imported cases have been suspected in Denmark but no diagnostic method has yet been available to confirm the diagnosis. This is a case report of a 38-year-old male admitted to hospital with high fever, severe malaise and headache after returning from Malaysia. Scrub typhus was suspected and the patient recovered after one week of doxycycline treatment. The pathogen was identified by use of microbiome 16S/18S rRNA next-generation sequencing on ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) blood, which in the future may serve an important role in the investigation of travel-associated infections.

Plasmodium knowlesi has been reported as an emerging infection throughout the Southeast Asian region, espe-cially in the Malaysian state of Sabah, where it accounts for the majority of the malaria cases reported. This is in contrast to Europe, where imported P. knowlesi is a rarely reported infection. We present a case of P. knowlesi infection in a Danish woman returning from a short trip to Malaysian Borneo. Microscopy of blood smears revealed 0.8% infected erythrocytes, but due to the atypical morphological presentation, a conclusive species identification was made by molecular methods. Plasmodium knowlesi is a potentially fatal infection and taking the increasing travel activity into consideration after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, P. knowlesi should be a differential diagnosis in patients with travel-associated illness returning from highly endemic Southeast Asian areas.

Neoeherlichiosis is an emerging tick-borne infection causing disease in individuals with inadequate B-cell responses because of haematologic cancer or treatment with B-cell depletion therapies such as rituximab. The infection has recently been found as a cause of prolonged fever among several patients receiving rituximab in Denmark. This review covers current knowledge on the clinical spectrum among healthy as well as immune compromised individuals, transmission, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment.

A 77-year-old woman had a history of mantle cell lymphoma, splenechtomy and rituximab-treatment. For six months she had fever, night sweats and weight loss. Thorough investigations did not reveal the cause of the fever, and empiric antibiotics had no effect. Eventually she developed an erythema nodosum-like rash on both legs. A biopsy was sent for 16S rRNA PCR, which was positive for Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis. She was treated with doxycycline with resolution of all symptoms. This is the first case report of neoehrlichiosis in Denmark, and the first case diagnosed on a skin biopsy.

Talaromyces marneffei is a dimorphic fungus, which may cause life-threatening opportunistic infections in immuno-compromised individuals. A 25-year-old woman from Thailand was admitted with fever, shortness of breath, cough, and weight loss. The symptoms had persisted for three weeks. The patient had a stopover in Copenhagen on her way to Thailand from Greenland. A thoracic X-ray showed bilateral interstitial changes. Examinations showed positive HIV-test with a CD4-count of 21/microlitre. Moreover, fungaemia with T. marneffei was detected by cultivation. Highly active antiretroviral therapy and IV amphotericin B treatment was initiated followed by perorally administrated itraconazole.