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How many times have you started to have a conversation with someone about Hepatitis C only to have it blow up in your face? Have you ever heard someone say something about Hep C that didn't seem quite right to you? You were probably right something was amiss. A discussion about Hepatitis C can...
As per Wikipedia, the definition of a stigma is as follows: "Stigma is a word that originally means a "sign", "point", or "branding mark"." Wikipedia goes on to call stigma "A badge of shame, a physical mark of infamy or disgrace." Damn that w...
Recently, the CDC (Center for Disease Control) issued a statement that all Baby Boomers should be tested for Hepatitis C. The question often comes up as to why this particular segment of people is so vulnerable. What does being born between 1945 and 1965 have to do with Hepatitis C? What was di...
Buyer Beware! There are several snake oil salesmen out there who are claiming to have cured their own Hepatitis C with herbs, supplements and parking lot gravel. Okay, maybe not the parking lot gravel but it might as well be. What you need to remember is that there are two different types of...
Most every adult woman (and an occasional man) has enjoyed a manicure and a pedicure at a nail salon or spa. That 30 minute pedicure can be so relaxing but are you aware of the danger lurking in that nail salon? Although few individuals recognize the medical risks associated with this common pr...
Second-line antiretroviral therapy in South Africa achieves durable viral suppression in three-quarters of patients and is associated with an increase in CD4 cell count, investigators report in the online edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. Therapy was based on a boosted protease inhibitor (lopinavir/ritonavir, Kaletra).
Unsurprisingly, adherence was associated with virological outcomes, with each 10% improvement in the rate of adherence more than doubling the chances of achieving an undetectable viral load.
An increasing proportion of people who have started HIV therapy in resource-limited settings have experienced first-line treatment failure. Second-line options are limited, and are usually based on a ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitor, which is taken in combination with two drugs in the NRTI class.
There is currently little information on the virological efficacy and durability of second-line treatment in poorer countries. However, it is important that this is established, and that an understanding is achieved of the factors associated with the effectiveness of such treatment.
“An improved understanding of second-line ART [antiretroviral therapy] in resource-limited settings will be critical in maximizing the durability of second-line regimens, preventing disease progression and reducing long-term AIDS-related mortality in high HIV-prevalence countries without access to third-line ART regimens,” explain the authors.
They therefore designed a study monitoring the outcomes of 136 patients who initiated second-line therapy in Durban, South Africa. This treatment consisted of lopinavir/ritonavir, which was taken in combination with two NRTIs (usually AZT and enteric-coated ddI). The investigators also conducted analyses to see which factors were associated with the efficacy of this treatment.
All the patients had experience of first-line therapy (usually efavirenz [Sustiva, Stocrin] with d4T and 3TC).
The median duration of first-line treatment was 13 months. At the time therapy was changed, the patients had a median CD4 cell count of 153 cells/mm3 and a median viral load of approximately 28,500 copies/ml.
Adherence in the six months before this therapy was discontinued had been poor. The median rate (calculated by pharmacy refill) was just 67%. The investigators believe that this low rate may have been partly due to the toxic effects of d4T, a drug which is no longer used in routine HIV therapy.
Switching to second-line treatment was associated with a significant improvement in adherence. In the first six months after the treatment change, the median rate of adherence was 100%. Adherence remained high throughout follow-up; the median rate at month 12 being 92%, which increased to 96% at month 24.
Almost three-quarters of patients (74%) had an undetectable viral load (below 50 copies/ml) six months after switching treatment. This rate of suppression changed little during the two years of the study.
Factors associated with viral suppression after twelve months of therapy were evaluated by the investigators. A higher rate of adherence was independently associated with an increased chance of an undetectable viral load at this time point. Each 10% increase in adherence more then doubled the chances of virological suppression (OR = 2.5; 95% CI, 1.3-4.8, p = 0.01).
Time to virological suppression was most rapid in patients who took 90% or more of their doses (p = 0.01).
Adherence of this level was associated with rates of virological suppression at months 6, 12, 18 and 24 of 73, 87, 93 and 97% respectively. In contrast, the rates of suppression at these time points for patients who took fewer than 80% of their doses were just 20, 44, 67 and 83% respectively.
Changing to second-line therapy also had immunological benefits. Median CD4 cell count increased to 228 cells/mm3 six months after switching therapy and continued to increase during follow-up, reaching a median of 330 cells/mm3 at month 24.
“The switch to second-line ART in South Africa was associated with an improvement in adherence and a rapid immunological recovery,” comment the authors.
However, they express concern that approximately one quarter of patients continued to have a detectable viral load. “Median adherence was not uniformly > 90% after initiation of second-line ART and differences in second-line adherence help explain why some patients… achieved virologic suppression after switch and other patients did not.”
They therefore conclude: “Novel adherence interventions may usefully target patients with second-line ART failure who – given a low likelihood of failure with major protease inhibitor resistance mutations – have a high likelihood of achieving viral suppression.”
Please sign the ATC Salvage Therapy Petition Join us in asking Congressman Alcee Hastings and Congresswomen Maxine Waters to send a ‘Dear Colleague’ letter to Anthony Fauci, Director of NIAID, asking for the federal facilitation of apricitabine (ATC). ATC is a phase III nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) that has been shown to be safe and effective in treating people with HIV. It works against viruses that are resistant to several other nukes and could ...
Researchers from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, the University of Mississippi Medical Center and the University of Massachusetts Medical School announced today at CROI2013 the discovery of the first infant functionally cured of HIV. The baby, a female now two and a half years old, received 3 HIV medications when brought to the hospital at 30 hours old. Viral load tests were performed during the first few weeks that showed a rapidly decreasing viral load which reached ...
At the 19th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) in Washington D.C., the CDC reported that only 1 out of 4 HIV patients in the U.S. have HIV under control, which is defined as complete viral suppression. Warning bells should be ringing in the scientific and HIV advocacy communities. While much progress has been made in the last three decades in the treatment of HIV, tens of thousands of people living with HIV (PLWH) are currently struggling to construct viable treat...
Paige Rawl is 17 and HIV positive, but while her life has been shaped by HIV it isn't ruled by it. When Paige Rawl starts her senior year at Indianapolis’s Herron High School next month, she'll be cheer captain and a member of the student government and prom committee. This summer, the 17-year-old held down a part-time job at Hollister, hawking the popular Southern California-inspired clothing brand. The all-American girl — who happens to be HIV positive. Paige was in...
The HIV community has been abuzz with the August FDA approval of what had been termed “the Quad”, the second one-pill-once-a-day combination antiretroviral drug. Marketed by Gilead under the name Stribild, the drug contains two NRTIs (tenofovir and emtricitabine), an integrase inhibitor (elvitegravir) and an integrase booster (cobicistat) and is approved for use in treatment naïve patients with either drug resistant or wild type virus. In comparison to Atripla, the first...
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) for SUSTIVA® (efavirenz), including dosing recommendations for...
California and other states would be pressured to amend or repeal criminal laws that single out HIV-positive people under a bipartisan bill co-authored and introduced this week by Rep. Barbara...
Mission Statement
At HIV Haven we wish to provide our readers with vital cutting edge information to help expand HIV knowledge and promote activism, particularly that which works towards an end to the HIV pandemic. It is our desire to bring to you the scientific, medical and social advances that given the appropriate attention and support, could change the course of the HIV pandemic, lessen the devastating effects of HIV and AIDS, better the quality and quantity of life for people living with HIV and even yield an eventual end to the HIV pandemic. We also provide the basics of HIV transmission and treatment.
We will focus on issues such as innovative drug development, strategic activist campaigns, HIV relationships and novel HIV and HIV cure research. We also will bring you advances in Hepatitis C (HCV), a common HIV co-infection. Whether you are living with HIV/AIDS, HIV and HCV, love someone who is, are an activist, advocate, researcher, physician or just an interested party, we hope here at HIV Haven we can help you find what you are looking for.
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More than 7 million Africans now take antiretroviral therapy, with nearly 1 million starting treatment in the last year, according to a new report by UNAIDS. In How Africa Turned AIDS Around,...
A rights activist, who is living with HIV, filed a test case in the newly constituted Constitutional Court on Thursday to highlight the challenges and ill treatment facing people living with the...
Makerere University Walter Reed Project (MUWRP) is this July launching another third Phase I trial to develop an HIV vaccine since 1999 when the first trial was launched. Phase I is the first...
Rubaga Girls Primary School pupils had assembled to listen to an HIV awareness talk.The school always created an opportunity for the pupils and their parents to learn about different issues,...
International AIDS Advocates Demand China Give $1 Billion to Global Fund DC Press Conference: Friday, May 24, 10:30am, National Press Club Noting that the world’s second-largest economy received...
Mr Dong, a 37-year-old man from Hanoi, has been living with HIV for a number of years. He is in good health thanks to the antiretroviral treatment that is provided free of charge in Viet Nam and...
Cambodia is on track to become one of the few countries in the world to successfully reverse its HIV epidemic and may eliminate new infections by 2020, the World Health Organization said Friday....
In recent years, the countries of Central Asia have experienced some of the fastest growing rates of HIV infection in the world. One of the key populations at risk is men who have sex with men...
HIV patients who are forced to report to hospital every month for a prescription could be forced into a situation where they have to reveal their condition to an employer. HIV patients who are...
Seventy per cent of Italian HIV specialists who answered an online survey would prescribe pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to people in their care who ask for it, at least in some circumstances, a...
Liver transplants to treat a common type of liver cancer are a viable option for people infected with HIV, according to new research. The Italian study, published May 10 in the journal The...
Despite hepatitis B virus suppression provided by current drugs, many patients coinfected with hepatitis B and HIV have advanced liver fibrosis, according to new research. "Of the patients we had...
One day in late March, European finance and health ministry officials met at the OECD’s Paris office to discuss how healthcare systems are faring in times of austerity. On the second day of the...
Canadian Blood Services has received approval from Health Canada to reduce the current men who have sex with men (MSM) deferral period from indefinite to five years from last MSM activity. The...
A new discovery at Oregon Health & Science University highlights an ingenious method to ensure the body effectively reacts when infected with the highly evasive HIV virus that causes AIDS. The...
In 2009, the federal government took HIV-positive and AIDS off the list of communicable diseases that can make a person ineligible for a green card Q: I’ve tested HIV-positive. Will that keep me...
It is impossible to have a modern conversation about HIV and HIV stigma without having the term “undetectable” used, misused, and abused. Those involved in HIV activism certainly have strong...
AUSTRALIA is way behind the US and Europe in protecting medical workers from sharp objects, says a former US nurse who contracted HIV and hepatitis C through a needle injury. Dr Karen Daley, in...
Background: The resurgence of infectious syphilis in men who have sex with men (MSM) has been documented worldwide; however, HIV coinfection and syphilis reinfections in MSM in inner Sydney have not...
'Your Body Blueprint', a new campaign for people living with HIV has just been launched by AFAO. Based around an interactive website, the campaign is designed to encourage and support people...
DESPACHO GERAL, a Santos-based custom clearance agency for over twenty years, has successfully navigated the protocols for shipping the Spirit of Malabo to New York. The vessel departs today on...
Venezuelan professionals are working in investigations to establish the molecular panorama of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, and hepatitis, specialized sources said.According...
Until a few years ago there was no talk of curing HIV. Research focused on making anti-HIV drugs better, trying to find a vaccine or understanding why they didn’t seem to be working. Another area...
Top AIDS scientists are in Paris to mark the 30th anniversary of the detection of HIV. One of them is Sharon Lewin. Her work on latent HIV cells could lead to a cure, but she warns it's a "tough...
There was no fanfare on May 20, 1983 when Science published what is undoubtedly among the most important medical papers of the 20th century. In the usual dry prose, researchers from the Institut...
“It will take 10 years.” That is what researchers usually say when asked how much longer it will take to develop a safe and effective HIV vaccine.Some of the world’s brightest minds have been on...
Bottling up emotions is thought to harm both mind and body, but a new study suggests that the opposite extreme may be no better. In a study of thousands of heart attack patients, those who...
An explosion of cheap generic substitutes for widely used prescription drugs last year helped drive the first decline in pharmaceutical spending in the U.S. in nearly six decades. Drug makers...
An antibiotic-resistant strain of gonorrhea—now considered a superbug—has some analysts saying that the bacteria's effects could match those of AIDS. "This might be a lot worse than AIDS in the...
