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HIV epidemics and extra-couple relationships: an interview with Steve Bellan, University of Texas
The epicentre of the HIV pandemic is in sub-Saharan Africa, though prevalence of infection varies dramatically between countries for reasons not completely understood.
According to UNAIDS estimates, the four countries with the most severe epidemics are Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa, and Swaziland. In these countries, HIV prevalence ranges from 13-21% and 23-30% in adult males and females, respectively.
Until recently, we have had surprisingly poor estimates of country-wide HIV prevalence. For a long time, all country estimates of HIV prevalence were based on anonymous testing of pregnant woman at antenatal clinics. This has been the best available data, but sexually active women are hardly a representative sample of the whole population.
Only with the start of more representative surveys that included HIV testing in the mid 2000’s (such as the Demographic and Health Surveys that we analyzed) did we really begin to understand exactly how severe the epidemics were.
Full story of HIV epidemics at News Medical
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Year in review: Home HIV tests become available
Known as the OraQuick In-Home HIV test, the test was developed by OraSure Technologies, Inc.
“The test has the potential to identify large numbers of previously undiagnosed HIV infections, especially if used by those unlikely to use standard screening methods,” the FDA said in a new release.
“Knowing your status is an important factor in the effort to prevent the spread of HIV,” said Dr. Karen Midthun, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “The availability of a home-use HIV test kit provides another option for individuals to get tested so that they can seek medical care, if appropriate.”
The FDA says clinical studies of the test showed a 92 percent sensitivity rate, which means that of every 12 HIV-infected individuals tested with the kit, one negative result could be expected.
Full story of home HIV tests at Washington Blade
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Hope amid frustration as World AIDS Day approaches
Thirty-four million people live with HIV today, and 1.7 million became newly infected in 2011. But on the eve of World AIDS Day, many experts see room for some optimism.
Studies now show that identifying -- and effectively treating -- people who are HIV-positive early in the course of their infections will not only reduce sickness and deaths for those patients but will also reduce the risk of spreading the virus to others. That’s because the antiretroviral medications keep the levels of virus low in a patient’s body.
For those reasons, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force this month released draft advice for the government and U.S. physicians proposing that HIV screens should be routine for most people -- not just those whose behavior puts them at high risk. A commentary by AIDS experts published in the Canadian journal CMAJ suggested the same thing for our neighbors to the north. The advice is in line with CDC guidelines as well as with ones from a variety of medical groups.
“Yet less than a third of HIV-infected people in the United States are being treated successfully for their infection such that the virus is fully suppressed, and similarly low percentages have been observed in other countries,” noted a statement released by the National Institutes of Health. It was coauthored by Dr. Anthony Fauci (director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases), Jack Whitescarver (director of the NIH Office of AIDS Research) and NIH director Dr. Francis Collins.
Full story of world aids day at Los Angeles Times
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New test to improve HIV diagnosis in poor countries
Scientists have come up with a test for the virus that causes AIDS that is ten times more sensitive and a fraction of the cost of existing methods, offering the promise of better diagnosis and treatment in the developing world.
The test uses nanotechnology to give a result that can be seen with the naked eye by turning a sample red or blue, according to research from scientists at Imperial College in London published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
"Our approach affords for improved sensitivity, does not require sophisticated instrumentation and it is ten times cheaper," Molly Stevens, who led the research, told Reuters.
Simple and quick HIV tests that analyze saliva already exist but they can only pick up the virus when it reaches relatively high concentrations in the body.
Full story of new HIV test at Reuters
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Poor HIV patients improve with care beyond drugs: study
Patients stepping into Johns Hopkins University's HIV clinic in east Baltimore do not just see a doctor or get prescriptions for their antiretroviral drugs. Many also get help finding a place to live or bus fare to make it to their next appointment.
Such care that goes beyond the examination table and into patients' often challenging lives has been key to helping poorer HIV patients - particularly blacks and women - live long, healthier lives, according to a 15-year study published on Thursday in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Researchers at the university followed 6,366 patients in the mostly black, low-income part of a city marked by abandoned buildings and plagued by an illegal drug trade that drew national attention on the gritty television series "The Wire."
Full story of hiv patients at Reuters
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HIV Docs May Be Missing Signs of Heart Disease
Physicians treating HIV patients may need to be more alert to the early signs of cardiovascular disease, researchers said here.
People with HIV were more likely than others to already have serious coronary artery disease by the time they were given cardiac catheterization, according to Charles Hicks, MD, of Duke University Medical Center.
The finding, from a small cohort study, suggests that HIV specialists may be missing the early signs of cardiovascular illness in their patients, Hicks told reporters at the annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.
He and colleagues studied 96 people with HIV who were referred for cardiac catheterization and compared them with 41 matched controls from general medicine clinics who were also undergoing a first cardiac catheterization.
Full story of HIV and heart disease at Med Page Today
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Clinton Announces Major Step in AIDS Fight
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says Washington has begun transferring control of an anti-AIDS program to South Africa, which has the world's highest rate of HIV infection.
Clinton made the announcement Wednesday during a speech at the University of the Western Cape on the outskirts of Cape Town. She said the agreement is a "major step" in South Africa's fight against the virus.
The U.S. limited access to HIV/AIDS funding to the government of South Africa during the administration of former President Thabo Mbeki, who denied there was a link between HIV and AIDS and rejected internationally recognized treatments for the disease.
Washington has spent $3.2 billion since 2004 on the South Africa HIV/AIDS program. Though the country has made advances in slowing the infection rate, more than 17 percent of the country has tested positive for the virus.
Full story of aids fight at Voice of America
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Haag: Closer to ending AIDS epidemic
If you don’t know your HIV status, you should.
Today, it’s easier than ever in Massachusetts to learn your status through your doctor thanks to a change in the state’s HIV testing law that goes into effect on July 26. This new law, “An Act to Increase Routine Screening for HIV,” modernizes the Commonwealth’s HIV testing laws by replacing the need for written consent before an HIV test can be administered with verbal consent. The new law still maintains all privacy protections for patients that were present in the old law.
With an estimated 26,000 to 28,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in Massachusetts, but approximately 21 percent of them unaware that they are HIV positive, it’s clear that we need expanded HIV testing of state residents to end the epidemic. Expanded testing in communities like Waltham should make an impact; the city ranks 11 out of the state’s top 15 municipalities with the highest rates of new diagnoses of HIV infection. Statewide, about one-third of those who learn that they are HIV positive are also diagnosed with AIDS within just two months of their HIV diagnosis, which shows that they may have been HIV positive for years without knowing it — and without their health care providers ever suggesting that they get tested for HIV.
Full story of aids ending at Metro West Daily News
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Thanks, Walgreens: Free HIV/AIDS Tests Are Coming to a Pharmacy Near You
If you haven't heard, today is National HIV Testing Day. To mark the occasion, the nation's largest pharmacy chain, Walgreen Co., is kicking off a two-year pilot program to make HIV tests freely available to the public in its walk-in clinics.
So far, the tests are only available in three locations -- Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Lithonia, Georgia -- but the project, which is being backed by $1.2 million from the Centers for Disease Control, is set to spread. By the end of the summer, Americans from Oakland, California to Billings, Montana and 17 other locations will be able to get themselves tested for no charge at their local pharmacies. Four other drug retailers also plan to get in on the act.
Not only will the tests be free -- they'll be quick, said Jonathan Mermin, the director of the CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. Visitors will be asked to give a saliva sample and should have results back within 20 minutes.
Full story of free HIV testing at The Atlantic
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FDA favors first drug for HIV prevention
Federal drug regulators on Tuesday affirmed landmark study results showing that a popular HIV-fighting pill can also help healthy people avoid contracting the virus that causes AIDS in the first place. While the pill appears safe and effective for prevention, scientists stressed that it only works when taken on a daily basis.
The Food and Drug Administration will hold a meeting Thursday to discuss whether Truvada should be approved for people who are at risks of contracting HIV through sexual intercourse. The agency's positive review posted Tuesday suggests the daily pill will become the first drug approved to prevent HIV infection in high-risk patients.
FDA reviewers conclude that taking Truvada pre-emptively could spare patients "infection with a serious and life-threatening illness that requires lifelong treatment."
Full story of hiv prevention drug at Bloomberg Businessweek
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