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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...
HIV increases risk of atrial fibrillation
HIV infection significantly increases the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) – one of the most important causes of irregular heartbeats and a leading cause...
PrEP reduces HIV diagnosis rates in US cities by almost 16%
A study that compared pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) usage rates in 19 US cities with the rates of HIV diagnosis has found that the cities...
Important to monitor kidney function in HIV patients doing well
The prevalence of impaired kidney function is low among white HIV-positive individuals with an undetectable viral load, Danish investigators report. However, the rate...
ART adherence — Is the gold standard still needed for viral suppression?
The levels of adherence to antiretroviral (ARV) regimens needed to achieve and maintain HIV viral suppression may be lower today than they previously were,...
Teams fail to replicate 2016 results that claimed HIV 'cure' in monkeys
Three separate and independent teams of researchers in the United States attempted to replicate the results of a team that, back in 2016, claimed to...
Only a fraction of European men who want PrEP have taken it
A survey of close to 128,0000 gay and bisexual men living across Europe shows that just 3.3% have ever taken pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), although...
Statin treatment and exercise benefits for HIV-positive people
Statin treatment and physical exercise – including resistance training and cardiovascular workouts – has a range of benefits for HIV-positive people with high blood...
TB clusters show where HIV treatment is missing in South Africa
Clusters of new cases of tuberculosis (TB) provide strong evidence of areas that need to be prioritised for improved antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage, and...
'Alarming' rates of second-line HIV treatment failure in sub-Saharan Africa
The number of people failing second-line antiretroviral treatment (ART) is reaching “alarming” levels in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with failure more common in the first...
Decline in suicides since introduction of cART, but rate remains high
An analysis of deaths over thirty years in Switzerland shows that suicides fell dramatically after 1996, but have not declined further in men in...
Dolutegravir for younger children: results from the ODYSSEY trial
Dolutegravir (DTG) dosed according to World Health Organisation (WHO) weight bands in children weighing 10 kg to 20 kg, achieved similar concentrations to adults...
Age-related policies and laws limit PrEP access where its needed the most
Access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for young people at risk of HIV remains limited because of age-related consent laws and policies, reveals a global...
Continued surveillance needed to improve ART safety for pregnant women
Despite prospective cohort trials not producing evidence of an increased risk of neural tube defects (NTDs) with dolutegravir (DTG), elvitegravir and raltegravir, or bictegravir,...
Financial incentives for education help to improve HIV prevention
Financial incentives linked to education help Eswatini to find an innovative way of preventing HIV infections and pregnancy among adolescent girls and young women...
Voluntary licensing agreements transforming HIV treatment
In 2014, ViiV Healthcare, a pharmaceutical company dedicated to ending the HIV epidemic, and the Medicines Patent Pool, an organisation funded primarily by Unitaid...
HIV risk 8-times higher for those stopping PrEP
In a large cohort of people taking pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in San Francisco, the rate at which they contracted HIV was nearly eight times...
WHO updates recommendation for PrEP as HIV prevention option for MSM
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has updated its recommendation for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to include event-driven PrEP taken before and after sex – also...