HomeHIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS
Switch from efavirenz delivers benefits in HIV+ fatty liver disease
Switching to raltegravir from efavirenz is associated with significant improvements in liver steatosis for HIV-positive people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, Spanish investigators report.
The...
VMMC cuts female HIV risk by as much as 30%
Ground-breaking research presented at the recent International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science IAS 2017 in Paris, suggests that voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC)...
Boosted darunavir plus lamivudine matches three-drug regimen
A combination of darunavir/ritonavir and lamivudine was just as effective as the same combination plus tenofovir, according to 24-week results of the ANDES study,...
Single measures of viral load not effective for assessing suppression
The percentage of HIV-positive individuals with durable viral suppression may be overestimated when calculated by single measures of viral load, Healio reports a study...
First protease inhibitor combination pill maintains viral suppression
The first once-daily single-tablet regimen containing a protease inhibitor maintained viral suppression in almost everyone who switched after achieving undetectable HIV RNA on a...
ART administered intramuscularly as effective as oral Tx
Antiretroviral therapy (ART) intramuscularly administered may have the same effectiveness as current oral treatments. This is the main conclusion of the Phase II clinical...
HIV stillbirth rate is double that of general UK population
The stillbirth rate among women living with HIV in the UK and Ireland from 2007 to 2015 was more than twice that of the...
Factors beyond ART play role in the health of sub-Saharan HIV+ adolescents
Adolescents who acquired HIV perinatally were less likely to die, grew faster and had better immune restoration on treatment if they lived in upper-middle...
To be successful, multi-month prescribing needs fine tuning
Shifts to less frequent clinic visits and medication pick-ups to free up healthcare resources and make life easier for people living with HIV are...
Improved access to antifungal flucytosine is critical
Urgent action is needed to improve access to the antifungal drug flucytosine, say investigators, following the presentation of the results of a trial showing...
Self-testing improves uptake among sex workers
A year ago there was virtually no evidence on the acceptability and feasibility of HIV self-testing in female sex workers, but a series of...
Low-cost drugs package saves lives of people starting Tx late
Treating people who start HIV treatment late with a package of low-cost drugs to prevent serious infections saves three lives for every 100 people...
High BMI, diabetes and elevated lipids with HIV increases NAFLD risk
Over a third of people with HIV have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in the absence of hepatitis B or C, according to the...
Most people on ART will not experience viral rebound
British investigators have determined that a substantial proportion of people with HIV who are taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) will not experience viral rebound during...
People with HIV must use PPIs cautiously
Proton pump inhibitors should be used with caution in people with HIV, researchers from the Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas...
Incomplete viral suppression at 6 months increases 10-year mortality risk
A viral load as low as 400 copies/ml six months after starting HIV therapy is associated with a substantial ten-year mortality risk, investigators from...
Frailty associated with bone mineral density loss in HIV patients
Frailty is associated with loss of bone mineral density (BMD) in HIV-positive patients, investigators from the Service d’Immuno-hématologie clinique, Aix-Marseille Université, APHM Sainte-Marguerite, and...
Starting earlier on ARVs accelerates decline in bone mineral density
Those who start antiretroviral (ARV) treatment for HIV as soon after diagnosis as possible experience a greater decline in bone mineral density compared with...
Research needed into PMTCT's role in drug resistance in babies
The proportion of infants with HIV who had drug resistance at the time of HIV diagnosis almost doubled in Zambia between 2009 and 2014...
Support and counselling critical in helping pregnant women adhere to ART
Lack of social support after diagnosis and inadequate counselling were identified as key reasons for dropping out of HIV care after starting antiretroviral treatment during...
Heavy drinkers with HIV face increased death risk
People with HIV with a history of heavy drinking have a higher risk of death from any cause, and those with a recent history...
Hormonal contraceptives can be safely combined with most ARVs
Women taking various forms of hormonal contraceptives can likely combine them safely with antiretrovirals (ARVs), whether as HIV treatment or in the form of...
Routine male pot smokers with HIV have higher CVD risk
Middle-aged men living with HIV who smoke pot routinely have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease compared with their peers, says a report on...
More HIV-positive with traditional circumcision in Lesotho
Traditionally circumcised men are more likely to be HIV positive compared to men who underwent voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC), found a Duke ...
Life expectancy normalises within a year in those with plus-350 CD4 counts
A large study of 88,504 people with HIV on antiretroviral therapy (ART) found substantial improvements in life expectancy in people with HIV who started...
Protease inhibitor drug suppression of HIV in semen
Protease inhibitors may not be the best class of drug for people newly diagnosed with HIV to start treatment with, if they wish to...
HIV+ mothers with high CD4+ counts may benefit from ART postpartum
Mothers in the early phases of HIV infection who continued antiretroviral therapy (ART) postpartum experienced a significantly slower rate of disease progression than those...
Gene-editing to eliminate HIV DNA a significant step towards human clinical trials
For the first time, researchers have used gene-editing to eliminate HIV DNA from the genomes of three different animal models to ensure that replication...
False positive results a concern in rapid diagnostic tests
An evaluation of eight rapid diagnostic tests widely used in a variety of African countries by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) shows that the tests...
Researchers report on 1-year findings of PopART study
In a research article, Richard Hayes of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK and colleagues report early findings from PopART –...
Gilead's Genvoya gives significantly higher rate virologic suppression
Patients with HIV experienced a significantly higher rate of virologic suppression after taking Gilead’s Genvoya (elivitegravir-cobicistat-emtricitabine-tenofovir alafenamide) than the company’s Stribild (elvitegravir-cobicistat-emtricitabine-tenofovir disoproxil fumarate),...
Pitavastatin better lowers LDL cholesterol in HIV patients with dyslipidemia
Pitavastatin had greater low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-lowering effects than pravastatin without unfavourable effects on glucose metabolism or rates of virological failure in patients with HIV...
Early ART acceptable to a majority of young women in SA
Early antiretroviral therapy (ART) is highly acceptable to the majority of young women with HIV in South Africa, according to research. Rates of virological...
Tracking down patients lost to HIV care produces very little return
Efforts to track patients lost to care are likely to produce very little return on the money and time spent unless clinics target tracing...
Support intervention did not improve ART initiation, TB treatment completion
An intervention using health system navigators, phone support and text message reminders did not improve rates of people living with HIV initiating antiretroviral therapy...
Busting myths that could stand between people and HIV prevention pill
More people than ever are taking the once-a-day pill to help prevent HIV infection, writes Joan van Dyk for Bhekisisa.
As of the beginning of...
With HIV, no need to embellish achievements or to diminish challenges
A culture of chicanery, subterfuge and sycophancy now permeates all the factions in government, writes Fareed Abdullah, a medical doctor and former CEO of the South...
New WHO-UNAIDS HIV strategy not feasible for Sub-Saharan Africa?
The World Health Organisation and UNAIDS have proposed using ‘treatment as prevention’ to eliminate HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa. But a University of California – Los Angeles study has concluded...
Positive results from nurse-led ART adherence support programme
A randomised controlled trial conducted in the Netherlands showed that a nurse-led antiretroviral therapy adherence support programme had a significant effect on viral load...
Range of formats may be needed to attract men to test for HIV
Specialised services to attract men to HIV testing and treatment may need to adopt several different formats in order to reach different sub-populations of...