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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...
Tenofovir alafenamide safer for bones and kidneys than tenofovir DF
After three years, tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) for first-line HIV treatment was better at suppressing viral load and safer for the bones and kidneys than...
How vedolizumab antibody therapy leads to sustained viral remission
HIV and its monkey cousin SIV can carry the alpha-4 beta-7 integrin receptor in their outer envelope, which helps the virus enter gut cells...
The history of first HIV/Aids drug
Today, if someone is diagnosed with HIV, he or she can choose among 41 drugs that can treat the disease. And there’s a good...
Estimates show mother-to-child HIV transmission dropping in US
Research has estimated that there were 69 perinatal human immunodeficiency virus or HIV infections among infants born in the US in 2013 (1.75 per...
MRI to identify HIV persistence in brain despite effective drug Tx
Scientists at University College London (UCL) have developed a way to use MRI scans to help identify when HIV is persisting in the brain...
Dolutegravir + single other drug can work as maintenance therapy
Dolutegravir used alone without other antiretrovirals was unable to keep viral load suppressed in some people who switched from a standard three-drug combination regimen,...
'Test and treat' strategy successfully getting more people onto ARVs
After a second wave of intensive household testing, a large study of the 'test and treat' strategy in Zambia is diagnosing more people with...
No virus transmission when HIV successfully suppressed by medication
When the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is successfully suppressed by medication, people with HIV can't transmit the virus to others, according to a public...
Study looks at hypertension in sub-Saharan patients with HIV
Traditional cardiovascular risk factors predicted incident hypertension in a sub-Saharan Africa study, but no association was observed with immunological or antiretroviral treatment status.
Many countries...
Dutch adherence programme boosts HIV Tx success rate
Dutch researchers have developed an HIV medication adherence programme that has been successful in increasing treatment success rates by almost 18%, claiming it as...
HIV integrase inhibitors may increase risk of IRIS
HIV integrase inhibitors such as dolutegravir and raltegravir may increase the risk of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS), studies from the Netherlands and France...
Transmitted drug resistance mutations increase in HIV
Transmitted drug-resistance mutations in HIV increased among ART–naive patients from 2000 to 2013, according to Gilead Sciences study findings.
“The research and discovery of chemical...
Robust pipeline of ART drugs in development
The Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2017) included presentations on several new investigational antiretroviral drugs in development, reflecting a more robust pipeline, says...
Implications stemming from evolving definitions of 'safe sex'
Evolving definitions of what is ‘safe sex’ has implications for treatment as prevention and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), says Martin Holt of the University of...