Thursday, 28 March, 2024
HomeHIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS

Breastfeeding and vaccination helps babies born to HIV-positive mothers stay healthy

A South African study has found that, in general, babies born to HIV-positive mothers who are on antiretroviral therapy do not have worse health...

Questions over PrEP safety during pregnancy should not prevent treatment

Unanswered questions about the safety of taking PrEP during pregnancy and breastfeeding should not be allowed to stand in the way of access to...

Malawi/SA Study highlights need for better management of TB and HIV co-infection

A study from South Africa and Malawi highlights the urgent need for better management of people with TB and HIV co-infection, reports Aidsmap. It...

Unexplained low bone mineral density in HIV patients

The risk of fragility fractures is increased among people living with HIV, according to research. Aidsmap reports that this increased risk couldn’t entirely be...

SA steps up efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV

South Africa’s prevention of mother-to-child transmission programme has achieved remarkable successes in recent years, Ute Feucht, associate professor in paediatrics and Jeannette Wessels researcher,...

Dangers of unclear messaging on medical male circumcision

In March 2007, international experts endorsed voluntary medical male circumcision as a partial but effective way to reduce the risk of HIV infection in...

Current approaches to testing may inadvertently drive away men — small SA study

In South Africa, men experience worse HIV-related outcomes than women. It is estimated that 78% of men living with HIV know that they are...

A strategy for the millions of HIV-exposed but uninfected children

In 2018, 90% of the almost 15m children worldwide who were HIV-exposed and uninfected were from sub-Saharan Africa. Strikingly, half come just five African...

Study sheds light on HIV raising risk of sudden cardiac death

The success of antiretroviral therapies has extended the lives of people living with HIV, long enough for other chronic health conditions to emerge, including...

Services must be strengthened to encourage PrEP users

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) – taking antiretroviral drugs to protect people from acquiring HIV infection – is revolutionising the prevention of HIV around the world....

Prevalence of neural tube defects in HIV-exposed pregnancies

The prevalence of neural tube defects (NTDs) is 7.0 per 10,000 live births in HIV-exposed pregnancies, which is similar to the prevalence in the...

PEP a feasible HIV prevention strategy

Providing a prescription of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) in advance of potential exposures to HIV may be a feasible HIV prevention strategy for individuals who...

A third of sexually transmitted HIV infections in 2016 linked to herpes

Evidence suggests there is a strong biological association between HIV and the sexually transmitted infection (STI) herpes. In 2017, an evidence review found the...

Studies find new HIV incidence falling in some SA communities

Two separate studies from KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa have been published in the last two months, both showing falls in new HIV infections in...

Anglo American's extraordinary success in combating HIV/Aids

Mining giant Anglo American has done what much of the country, NGOs and the government cannot – persuade men to test for HIV and...

HIV self-test boosts testing awareness among MSM

Distribution of free HIV self-tests via the internet can increase testing for the disease by men who have sex with men (MSM) and boost...

Depression puts SA girls at higher risk of contracting HIV

Teen girls in South Africa face an extraordinary threat of HIV: By the time they reach adulthood, one in four South African girls will...

Tenofovir does not increase risk of kidney disease in those at low risk

Antiretroviral treatment containing the older formulation of tenofovir (TDF) did not increase the risk of chronic kidney disease in previously untreated people with HIV...

Options for two-drug simplification expand but note of caution sounded

Further evidence on the efficacy of two-drug antiretroviral regimens as simplification options for people with suppressed viral load on three-drug regimens was presented last...

96-week results of DISCOVER PrEP trial

The 96-week results of the DISCOVER trial, which compared the efficacy and safety of two different formulations of the antiretroviral drug tenofovir when used...

Dolutegravir and raltegravir cause changes to fat cells

The integrase inhibitors dolutegravir (Tivicay, also in Triumeq and Dovato) and raltegravir (Isentress) cause changes in the structure of fat cells that may promote...

Weight gain after switching to integrase inhibitor treatment is small in Dutch and Swiss cohorts

People with suppressed viral load who switched to an integrase inhibitor-based regimen experienced only small gains in weight and do not appear to gain...

Weight gain after starting ARVs linked to specific drugs

Weight gain after starting antiretroviral treatment probably has multiple causes but appears strongly linked to specific drugs, and to combinations of drugs, Dr Andrew...

Syringe exchange programmes prevented thousands of new HIV cases

Syringe exchange programmes established in Philadelphia and Baltimore prevented a total of 12,483 new cases of HIV over a 10-year period, according to a...

Hair study strengthens link between food insecurity, ART non-adherence

Among women living with HIV, study findings showed that food insecurity was associated with lower antiretroviral treatment (ART) concentrations in hair, suggesting that it...

Telemedicine useful for HIV treatment

Telemedicine, which involves consultation of patients by doctors remotely, is being used in many parts of India. A study has shown that it can...

Routine screening cuts incidence of anal cancer among people living with HIV

A routine anal screening programme for people living with HIV was associated with a significant reduction in the incidence of anal cancer, investigators from...

Ending HIV will require optimising treatment prevention tools – NIH experts

Optimal implementation of existing HIV prevention and treatment tools and continued development of new interventions are essential to ending the HIV pandemic, US National...

Weight gain while on ART: Demographic, HIV and treatment-related factors

People with HIV are living longer thanks to modern antiretroviral therapy (ART); however, studies have noted that initiating these treatment regimens can lead to...

A decade of HIV treatment has failed most high-risk young women

A review of HIV incidence among young people in east and southern Africa since antiretroviral treatment (ART) roll-out reveals failures to reach the highest-risk...

HIV treatment for over 60s – switching drugs could improve bone and kidney health

Switching from an antiretroviral treatment (ART) regimen containing tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) to a single-tablet regimen containing elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine and tenofovir alafenamide (ECETA)...

Among those with private healthcare, ARV adherence declines over time

Overall, privately insured people with HIV have inadequate adherence to their daily antiretroviral (ARV) regimen during their first year on treatment and proceed to...

Exercise reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety in people with HIV

Exercise reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety in people living with HIV, according to the results of a meta-analysis. The research additionally showed that...

Many MSM in Africa are missing out on treatment

Despite improvements in HIV testing among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Africa, many are missing out on HIV treatment. This is...

Integrase inhibitors may increase the risk of diabetes

People who started antiretroviral therapy (ART) with a regimen that included an integrase inhibitor were more likely to develop diabetes mellitus, although this increased...

Young people receiving HIV treatment in SA increase 10-fold

Results of a study of more than 700,000 one to 19-year olds being treated for HIV infection suggests a ten-fold increase in the number...

Malawi: point-of-care testing results in more switches from failing treatment

Point-of-care viral load testing resulted in higher rates of switching and shorter periods on failing treatment than laboratory-based viral load testing in rural Malawi...

Benin: No sign of risk compensation in sex workers starting PrEP

Researchers found no evidence that female sex workers in Benin engaged in higher-risk behaviours after starting pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). A novel methodology was used...

HIV/Aids: "Not the moment for complacency and triumphalism"

Now is not the time to get stuck in complacency and triumphalism over the gains made in the global HIV/Aids response, former president of...

SSA 'test and treat' programmes stumble

Programmes to scale-up HIV testing and treatment in countries in sub-Saharan Africa may have had less impact on new HIV infections than hoped, partly...