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| HIV: new approach against virus 'holds promise' | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: 8 Apr 2015, 11:47 PM (252 Views) | |
| skibboy | 8 Apr 2015, 11:47 PM Post #1 |
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HIV: new approach against virus 'holds promise' By Smitha Mundasad Health reporter 5 hours ago ![]() The first human trial of a new type of HIV therapy suggests it could be a promising weapon in the fight against the virus. Reports in the journal Nature show infusions of so-called broadly neutralising antibodies could suppress the amount of HIV in a patient's blood. The approach uses clones of immune proteins taken from a rare individual who has natural control of the disease. Scientists hope with further work this could bolster current treatments. 'Profound effects' People naturally mount a defence against the virus by producing an army of protein based weapons - antibodies. But in most cases these are not powerful enough to defeat it. The international research team harvested copies of unusually potent ones, capable of neutralising many different strains of HIV. Patients given the highest concentrations were able to fight the virus for some time, dampening the replication of HIV in their blood. The strength of this protection varied - in some it lasted more than four weeks. In the journal the authors said: "Our data establish that passive infusion of single broadly neutralising antibodies can have profound effects on HIV viraemia in humans." But because of the virus's ability to mutate rapidly, in some patients it was able to outwit the therapy by changing structure over time. To overcome this scientists suggest using this treatment alongside current drugs or together with other antibodies. 'Immune jolt' Prof Michel Nussenzweig of the Rockefeller University in New York, told BBC News: "This is different to treatment out there already on two counts. "First because it comes from a human - so it is natural in that respect. "And secondly it opens up the possibility of giving the patient's own weakened immune system a jolt. "One part of the antibody could act as a red flag - pointing out to the body where the virus is hiding and sending signals to kill it." They are now exploring whether the infusion could shield people from getting the disease in the first place. But he cautioned that studies into the antibody are still small and at an early stage. "We have shown the approach is safe and effective. "What this trial is telling us is that it is now time to look at the possibilities - from prevention and treatment to even cure," he said. Commenting on the findings, Prof Vincent Piguet from Cardiff University, said: "This exciting novel study shows for the first time that antibodies may have a place in the line of therapies directed against HIV." He described it as an "important development in the fight against HIV" but said the costs of antibody therapy and the emergence of resistance must be taken into account. Source:
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| skibboy | 9 Apr 2015, 01:20 AM Post #2 |
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08 April 2015 Designer molecule lowers HIV levels: trial results © AFP/File / by Mariette Le Roux | An HIV blood test is administered in a mobile testing facility on May 24, 2013 in Washington, DC PARIS (AFP) - Researchers said Wednesday a lab-manufactured antibody "significantly" reduced HIV blood levels in a small but promising human trial, and caused no harmful side effects The virus-suppressing action did not appear to last, however, and some patients developed resistance to the agent, said the authors of the research published by Nature. This meant the designer molecule dubbed 3BNC117 may be best used in combination with other drugs, said the team -- while highlighting the promise of a new, immunotherapy-based approach to fighting HIV. "This represents potentially a new class of drugs with activity against HIV," study co-author Marina Caskey of New York's Rockefeller University told AFP. "It is possible that 3BNC117 and antibodies like it will boost the patient's own immune responses, leading to better control of their infection." So-called monoclonal antibodies like 3BNC117 which are cloned from a single parent immune cell, hold the promise of actually killing HIV-infected cells. Currently, cocktails of antiretroviral drugs are used merely to suppress replication of the virus for which no cure or vaccine exists. Antibodies remain active in the body for longer than daily-dose antivirals, said the scientists, and may be administered with longer intervals in between, perhaps once every few months. The new agent, cloned from a cell taken from an HIV-positive person, was given to 12 uninfected volunteers and 17 infected with HIV. Each received a single, intravenous shot in doses ranging from 1 to 30 milligrammes per kilogramme of bodyweight, and were monitored for 56 days. All eight individuals given the highest dose showed "up to 300-fold decreases" in the amount of virus in their blood, said the US-German research team. The viral load was lowest about a week after treatment, and remained "significantly reduced" for 28 days. In four of the eight high-dose volunteers, viral loads were below starting levels by the end of the eight-week trial period, but resistance to the antibody developed in the other four, said the scientists. This meant the molecule would likely not be effective on its own, and would have to be used in a combination with other drugs. Outside experts described the findings as promising, but said a working antibody treatment for HIV was likely years away. - 'Effective and safe' - "We have been able to show for the first time that monoclonal antibodies against HIV can significantly reduce levels of the virus in blood," Caskey said by email, and that it is "safe to be administered in humans." Monoclonal antibodies, used in treating cancer, have proven difficult and expensive to produce for HIV. In nature, antibodies identify and latch on to foreign agents like bacteria and viruses, tagging them for attack by the immune system. The AIDS virus, however, constantly mutates to elude antibodies -- including the potent "broadly-neutralising" (bNAb) type of antibody produced by only 10-30 percent of HIV-infected people but only after many years by when it is too late. By cloning bNAbs, scientists hope to treat HIV infections before the virus mutates. In this Phase I clinical trial, 3BN117 was active against 195 of 237 HIV strains. But resistance is a problem, said Caskey -- as with existing antiretrovirals that need to be used in combinations of different drugs for the same reason. "One antibody alone, like one drug alone, will not be sufficient to suppress viral load for a long time because resistance will arise," she said. Besides the possibility of HIV treatment, the study also raises prospects for a vaccine. "If researchers can induce an uninfected person's immune system to generate potent antibodies such as 3BNC117, it might be enough to block the HIV infection before it can be established," said a university statement. The next step, said Caskey, is to test whether 3BNC117 can maintain undetectable blood levels of HIV in patients during a pause in antiretroviral therapy, as well as tests of its function in combination with antiretrovirals. "In parallel, we are discussing studies to evaluate if 3BNC117 would be effective in preventing HIV, but time and additional resources are still required to implement such studies," she said. Commenting on the study via the Science Media Centre, infectious diseases expert Andrew Freedman of Cardiff University said the results suggested the treatment "might prove useful in combination with drug therapy as a means of achieving better long-term control or even cure of HIV infection." by Mariette Le Roux Source:
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| skibboy | 14 Jul 2015, 11:51 PM Post #3 |
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HIV: UN meets goal to treat 15 million By Michelle Roberts Health editor, BBC News online 14 July 2015 ![]() The goal to get HIV treatment to 15 million people by the end of 2015 has already been met, says the United Nations Aids agency. The landmark figure was reached in March - nine months ahead of schedule. It follows decades of global efforts and investment to get antiretroviral drugs to those in need - such as people living in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2000, when the UN first set goals to combat HIV, fewer than 700,000 people were receiving these vital medicines. According to UN Aids, which has a report out today, the global response to HIV has averted 30 million new HIV infections and nearly eight million Aids-related deaths since the millennium. Over the same time frame, new HIV infections have fallen from 2.6 million per year to 1.8 million, and Aids-related deaths have gone down from 1.6 million to 1.2 million. Meanwhile, global investment in HIV has gone up from £3.1bn ($4.8bn) in 2000 to more than £13bn ($20bn) in 2014. And concerted action over the next five years could end the Aids epidemic by 2030, says UN Aids. But progress has been slower in some areas. Ending Aids A major gap seems to be in awareness of HIV status, which is the biggest barrier to treatment access, says the report. And treatment access for children has lagged behind adults - although this is now improving. The proportion of children living with HIV who receive antiretroviral therapy almost doubled between 2010 and 2014 (from 14% to 32%), but coverage "remains notably lower than it does for adults", says the report. Even though new HIV infections have gone down, there is still an unacceptable number of new HIV infections each year, contributing to the burden of the epidemic. In 2014, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 66% of all new HIV infections. And at the last headcount, there were an estimated 25.8 million people in this region living with HIV. The estimated count for the whole world was 36.9 million. This year sees the switch from Millennium Development Goals to broader Sustainable Development Goals. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations said: "The world has delivered on halting and reversing the Aids epidemic. "Now we must commit to ending the Aids epidemic as part of the Sustainable Development Goals." The report says the next five years will be critical and recommends front-loading investment to "sprint" towards an ambition of ending the Aids epidemic by 2030. Source:
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| skibboy | 20 Jul 2015, 11:37 PM Post #4 |
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Teenager 'in remission' from HIV despite stopping drugs By Jane Dreaper Health correspondent, BBC News 4 hours ago ![]() An 18-year-old French woman is in remission from HIV - despite not having taken any drugs against the virus for 12 years. Doctors have presented the details of her case at an International Aids Society (IAS) conference in Vancouver. It is the world's first report of long-term remission from HIV in a child. Experts say big studies are needed to determine why some patients can continue to control the virus after stopping treatment. The woman was born in 1996, and was passed HIV by her mother - either towards the end of the pregnancy or during childbirth. Aged three months, she was given four anti-retroviral drugs. But her family decided to stop the treatment when she was almost six years old. Twelve years later, the virus levels in her bloodstream are too low to be measured - although doctors have cautioned that this could change. Dr Asier Saez-Cirion, from the Institute Pasteur, in Paris, said: "It's likely that this girl has been in virological remission for so long because she received a combination of anti-retrovirals very soon after infection. "With this first, highly documented case of this young woman, we provide the proof of concept that long-term remission is possible in children, as in adults. "However, these cases are still very rare. "The woman is living normally. Her case is unique but had gone unnoticed, even among clinicians in France." Two years ago, a young girl in America - who became known as the "Mississippi baby" - appeared to be free of HIV. But her remission lasted for just over two years after drug treatment was stopped. Dr Saez-Cirion has also led research into a group of 14 adult patients known as the Visconti cohort. They also had no signs of the virus re-emerging, despite stopping medicine. One of the patients has had the virus under control for more than 13 years. 'Inspiring' Prof Sharon Lewin, from the University of Melbourne, in Australia, said: "The French teenager case provides strong evidence yet again of the powerful benefits of starting anti-HIV treatment as early as possible. "This is an inspiring story for those of us working in this field, and for everyone living with HIV." Prof Lewin added: "Important though this case is, I strongly believe that to advance our efforts towards finding a cure for HIV, we need large prospective studies that can nail down who might be able to safely stop anti-viral therapy and keep the virus under control. "A single case report is unable to do that. "We need to identify a robust test to measure very low levels of virus or find a better way to predict this idea of post-treatment control. "If we had such a test, this would really help move clinical trials in the HIV cure field forward." The French virologist Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, who won the Nobel Prize for identifying HIV, also backed the idea of large studies. She told BBC News: "We need to try to find other such cases - and find out their markers, to see whether we can predict remission. "The case of the Mississippi baby was of course very disappointing for the child and her family. "But we learn as much from the negative as well as the positive data. It shows that the science around HIV is maturing." Source:
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| skibboy | 1 Aug 2015, 12:08 AM Post #5 |
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HIV flushed out by cancer drug By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News website 31 July 2015 ![]() HIV can be flushed out of its hiding places in the body using a cancer drug, researchers show. The cornerstone of treatment, anti-retroviral therapy, kills the virus in the bloodstream but leaves "HIV reservoirs" untouched. The study, published in PLoS Pathogens, showed the drug was "highly potent" at reactivating hidden HIV. Experts said the findings were interesting, but it was important to know if the drug was safe in patients. The power of the HIV reservoir was shown with the case of the Mississippi baby. She was given antiretroviral drugs at birth. Despite appearing to be free of HIV for nearly two years after stopping treatment, she was found to be harbouring the virus. 'Kick and kill' A strategy known as "kick and kill" is thought to be key to curing HIV - the kick would wake up the dormant HIV allowing the drugs to kill it. The team at the UC Davis School of Medicine investigated PEP005 - one of the ingredients in a treatment to prevent cancer in sun-damaged skin. They tested the drug in cells grown in the laboratory and in parts of the immune system taken from 13 people with HIV. The report said "PEP005 is highly potent in reactivating latent HIV" and that the chemical represents "a new group of lead compounds for combating HIV". One of the researchers, Dr Satya Dandekar, said: "We are excited to have identified an outstanding candidate for HIV reactivation and eradication that is already approved and is being used in patients. "This molecule has great potential to advance into translational and clinical studies." However, the drug has still not been tested in people who are HIV-positive. Prof Sharon Lewin, from the University of Melbourne, said the results were "interesting" and marked an "important advance in finding new compounds that can activate latent HIV". She told the BBC: "This study adds another family of drugs to test to potentially eliminate long-lived forms of HIV although much more work needs to be done to see if this works in patients. "Although PEP005 is part of an FDA approved drug, it will first take some time to work out if it is safe to use in the setting of HIV." Source:
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| skibboy | 30 Sep 2015, 10:54 PM Post #6 |
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WHO backs 'treat-all' HIV drug plan 30 September 2015 ![]() Everyone who has HIV should be offered antiretroviral drugs as soon as possible after diagnosis, the World Health Organisation says. This latest policy removes previous limits suggesting patients wait until the disease progresses. The WHO has also recommended people at risk of HIV be given the drugs to help prevent the infection taking hold. UNAIDS said these changes could help avert 21 million AIDS-related deaths and 28 million new infections by 2030. The recommendations increase the number of people with HIV eligible for antiretrovirals from 28m to 37m across the world. But the challenge globally will be making sure everyone has access to them and the funds are in place to pay for such a huge extension in treatment. Only 15m people currently get the drugs. The recommendations have less relevance to the UK however. Nine in 10 people with diagnoses are already on the drugs with patients entitled to ask for them before they reach the threshold WHO refers to. Although the use of the treatment as a preventative measure is not recommended. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What are antiretrovirals? Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is a combination of medicines used to treat HIV. It is not a cure, but can control the virus so that patients can live a longer, healthier life and reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to others. The drugs prevent HIV from multiplying, which reduces the amount of the virus in the body. Having less HIV in the body gives the immune system a chance to recover and fight off infections and cancers. By reducing the amount of HIV, the medicines also reduce the risk of transmitting the virus to others. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Mark Dybul, executive director of the Global Fund, a private-public initiative which is one of the biggest funders of HIV research and treatment, said: "The recommendations are critically important to moving us towards the fast-track treatment and prevention goals. "We must embrace the ambition if we are going to end HIV as a public health threat." Michel Sidibe, of UNAIDS, added: "Everybody living with HIV has the right to life-saving treatment. The new guidelines are a very important steps towards ensuring that all people living with HIV have immediate access to antiretroviral treatment." The WHO announcement comes after extensive research into the issue. A US National Institutes of Health study due to run until 2016 was stopped early after an interim analysis found giving treatment straight after diagnosis cut deaths and complications, such as kidney or liver disease, by half. Meanwhile, a UK study found giving healthy gay men drugs meant one case of HIV could be stopped for every 13 men treated for a year. Source:
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| skibboy | 23 Dec 2015, 01:55 AM Post #7 |
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22 December 2015 Drug firm announces promising results for HIV-killer combination © AFP/File | A drug trial run by a Norwegian pharmaceutical company showed promise for a combination HIV treatment that seeks to flush the virus out of its hiding places in human cells and destroy it, the company reported December 22 2015 OSLO (AFP) - A Norwegian drug firm on Tuesday announced an advance in its quest for an HIV cure with a drug combination which seeks to force the virus out of its hiding place and kill it. A trial with 17 HIV-positive patients yielded a "statistically signficant decrease" in the virus, biotech firm Bionor announced. "This is a major achievement on the path to a functional cure for HIV," Bionor spokesman Jorgen Fischer Ravn told AFP. There is no cure for the disease AIDS, caused by HIV. but anti-retroviral treatments help people live longer, healthier lives by delaying and subduing symptoms. In some who undergo treatment, however, the virus takes cover in cells and hides away, only to reemerge once therapy is stopped. This latency has been one of the biggest hurdles in developing a cure. "Waking up" the virus and then destroying it -- the so-called "kick-and-kill" approach -- is a promising strategy for ridding patients of HIV. Bionor's approach involves an anti-cancer drug called romidepsin to wake up the dormant HIV, and a vaccine called Vacc-4x to prime the body's own immune T-cells to recognise and destroy the virus. "After an activation of the virus, which would normally lead to detectable virus in the blood, Vacc-4x ensured killing of the virus-producing cells to maintain non-detectable or very low levels of virus in the blood in 15 out of 17 patients," said Fischer Ravn. Thirty-nine million people have died of AIDS, according to UN estimates, and about 35 million are living with the immune system-destroying virus today, overwhelmingly in poor countries. Source:
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| skibboy | 15 Jan 2016, 01:31 AM Post #8 |
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Giving healthy gay men HIV drugs 'could help reverse epidemic' By James Gallagher Health editor, BBC News website 14 January 2016 ![]() Giving daily HIV drugs to healthy gay men has huge potential to help reverse the epidemic, say scientists. The medication prevents new infections by killing the virus before it has a chance to take hold in the body. Calculations, published in the Lancet, indicate giving the drugs to the most at-risk men could cut new infections by more than 40% in the UK. Experts said the approach was of "huge benefit" to at-risk men and should be adopted. Men who have sex with men are at high risk of contracting HIV. In London, one in eight gay men has HIV, while the proportion in the rest of the UK is one in 26. Prevention While condoms are an effective barrier to HIV transmission, messages to use them are often ignored. Last year, a UK test on 500 men assessed the impact of an alternative approach called pre-exposure prophylaxis (Prep). It indicated one case of HIV could be stopped for every 13 men given anti-HIV drugs for a year. Scientists at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine modelled the impact of introducing such a treatment across the UK. They estimated there would be 16,955 new cases of HIV in gay men by 2020. But giving Prep to the most sexually active 25% of gay men would prevent 7,399 infections (44%). ![]() The men were given Truvada, which has already been approved as a preventative drug in the US Dr Narat Punyacharoensin, one of the researchers, said a focus on regular HIV tests and condom use "have been falling short". He told the BBC News website: "Prep has a great potential to achieve a level of prevention that could never be achieved by all other HIV interventions." He said the cost-effectiveness still needed to be determined, but "pre-exposure prophylaxis offers a major opportunity to curb new infections and could help reverse the HIV epidemic among men who have sex with men in the UK". 'Huge benefit' Concerns had been raised that men given the drug would adopt riskier behaviours including stopping using condoms. But the test on 500 men, which concluded last year, found no difference in levels of other sexually transmitted infections such as chlamydia. Prof Sheena McCormack, who led that study at the Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit at UCL, told the BBC: "[It] demonstrated a huge benefit from adding Prep to the existing risk-reduction package for men who have sex with men. "This publication endorses the impressive longer term impact that Prep could have on the HIV epidemic among men who have sex with men in this country, and hopefully will guide NHS England towards a favourable decision." Dr Michael Brady, the medical director of the Terrence Higgins Trust, said: "This study is really important as it demonstrates that, in a relatively short space of time, Prep could have a dramatic impact on reducing HIV transmissions." The NHS is evaluating whether Prep should be offered. Source:
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| skibboy | 29 Jan 2016, 01:01 AM Post #9 |
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HIV becoming resistant to key drug, study finds By Dominic Howell BBC News 5 hours ago ![]() Strains of the HIV virus are becoming resistant to an antiretroviral drug commonly used to prevent and fight it, research has suggested. HIV was resistant to the drug Tenofovir in 60% of cases in several African countries according to the study, covering the period from 1998 to 2015. The research, led by University College London, looked at around 2,000 HIV patients worldwide. Lead author Dr Ravi Gupta said the results were "extremely concerning". 'Right levels' The work, which took four years to complete, was started in 2012 and compared patients with HIV in Africa with those in Europe. Splitting the sample size roughly into two groups the study found that in Africa 60% of patients were resistant to Tenofovir, whereas in Europe the figure was only 20%. The paper, which has been published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, said poor administration of the drug, in terms of regularly taking the right levels of Tenofovir could be explanation for the discrepancy. "If the right levels of the drug are not taken, as in they are too low or not regularly maintained, the virus can overcome the drug and become resistant," Dr Gupta told the BBC News website. "Tenofovir is a critical part of our armamentarium against HIV, so it is extremely concerning to see such a high level of resistance to this drug," he added. The paper also suggested that Tenofovir-resistant strains of HIV could be passed on from person to person. "We certainly cannot dismiss the possibility that resistant strains can spread between people and should not be complacent. We are now conducting further studies to get a more detailed picture of how Tenofovir-resistant viruses develop and spread," Dr Gupta said. HIV is the world's most deadly infectious disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Dr Gupta said a global effort and an cash investment would be needed to provide better facilities and monitoring in poorer African countries and that it was in everyone's interests to make this happen. Source:
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| skibboy | 23 Feb 2016, 12:11 AM Post #10 |
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'Charlie Sheen effect' on HIV 6 hours ago ![]() Google searches for HIV hit a record high in the US in the hours after actor Charlie Sheen announced that he was HIV positive, research reveals. Investigators found 2.75m more Google searches than expected, based on previous trends, shortly after Sheen had appeared on US TV in November. Web searches for condoms, HIV symptoms and HIV testing also rocketed. The researchers say the 'Sheen effect' should be capitalised on, to further raise HIV awareness. 'Sheen effect' In relative terms, all HIV searches were 417 percent higher than expected on the day of Sheen's disclosure. Condom searches, such as "buy condoms", increased 75%. HIV symptoms, such as "signs of HIV", and HIV testing, such as "find HIV testing" searches increased 540% and 214%, respectively, the day of Sheen's disclosure, and remained higher for three days. Speaking in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researcher Professor John Ayers, from San Diego State University, said: "While no one should be forced to reveal their HIV status and all diagnoses are tragic, Sheen's disclosure may benefit public health by potentially helping many learn more about HIV and HIV prevention. "More must be done to make this benefit larger and lasting." Back in November, Sheen, former start of sitcom Two And A Half Men, said he had gone to great lengths to keep his HIV status private. He revealed to NBC presenter Matt Lauer that he had paid "enough to take it into the millions" to keep people from going public about his illness. "I have to put a stop to this onslaught, this barrage of attacks and of sub-truths," he said, adding he was diagnosed four years ago. During that interview he said: "If there was one guy on this planet to contract this that's going to deliver a cure, it's me. It's me. Seriously. "I'm not going to be the poster man for this, but I will not shun away from responsibilities and opportunities that drive me to helping others." He's not the first celebrity with health issues to cause a ripple effect in public behaviour. ![]() Angelina Jolie has high risk genes for breast and ovarian cancer Awareness of breast removal and reconstruction ops increased massively after Angelina Jolie's experiences were reported in the media. Likewise, cervical cancer screening uptake went up after reality TV star Jade Goody died from the disease. Alex Sparrowhawk, Membership Officer of Terrence Higgins Trust said there was no question that Charlie Sheen's forced disclosure had a huge impact, not only in the US but worldwide. "As the UK's leading HIV and sexual health charity, Terrence Higgins Trust website had its busiest day ever on 17 November, with almost 20,000 page views. The most popular covered 'Stages of HIV infection', 'Getting Help Now' and 'What are HIV and AIDS'? He said the "media circus" surrounding the Sheen story and the public reaction showed some attitudes were ignorant and outdated. "There is definitely more work to be done in educating the public on HIV, but also in how the media report on HIV. It must be more widely understood as the long-term manageable health condition that it now is." Source:
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| skibboy | 1 Jun 2016, 12:27 AM Post #11 |
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India hospital transfusions infect thousands with HIV 31 May 2016 ![]() India has around 2.09 million people living with HIV/Aids At least 2,234 Indians have contracted the deadly HIV virus while receiving blood transfusions in hospitals in the past 17 months alone. The information was revealed by the country's National Aids Control Organisation (Naco) in response to a petition filed by information activist Chetan Kothari. Mr Khothari told the BBC that he was "shocked" by the revelation. India has around 2.09 million people living with HIV/Aids. The highest number of patients who had been infected with HIV as a result of contaminated blood in hospitals, were from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh with 361 cases, Mr Kothari's RTI (Right to Information) query revealed. The western states of Gujarat with 292 cases and Maharashtra with 276 cases rank second and third respectively. The Indian capital Delhi is at number four with 264 cases. "This is the official data, provided by the government-run Naco. I believe the real numbers would be double or triple that," Mr Kothari told the BBC. Under law, it is mandatory for hospitals to screen donors and the donated blood for HIV, hepatitis B and C, malaria and other infections. "But each such test costs 1,200 rupees ($18; £12) and most hospitals in India do not have the testing facilities. Even in a big city like Mumbai, only three private hospitals have HIV testing facilities. Even the largest government hospitals do not have the technology to screen blood for HIV," Mr Kothari said. "This is a very serious matter and must be addressed urgently," he added. Source:
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| skibboy | 8 Jun 2016, 11:47 PM Post #12 |
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08 June 2016 UN plan to end AIDS by 2030 faces Russian resistance © AFP/File | A political declaration was adopted by the 193-nation General Assembly that stressed the need to help intravenous drug users, sex workers, gay men, transgender people and prisoners who are at high risk of contracting HIV UNITED NATIONS (UNITED STATES) (AFP) - UN member-states agreed on Wednesday to fast-track their response to end the AIDS pandemic by 2030 despite a last-minute bid by Russia to dilute efforts to focus on drug users and gay men. A political declaration was adopted by the 193-nation General Assembly that stressed the need to help intravenous drug users, sex workers, gay men, transgender people and prisoners who are at high risk of contracting HIV. The HIV epidemic has been in decline over the past decade, but there are still 36.7 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told delegates that "AIDS is far from over," and that the world had an opportunity over the next five years to "radically change the trajectory of the epidemic." Ban appealed for treatment and services "without discrimination" to all people living with HIV. He singled out "young people, migrants, women and girls, sex workers, men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, transgender people and prisoners." The political declaration builds on a previous UN AIDS plan approved five years ago by placing more emphasis on those most vulnerable to HIV infection. It sets out three targets to be reached by 2020: reducing new HIV infections, reducing mortality rates and eliminating HIV-related discrimination. - Russian amendments fail - Russia late Tuesday demanded changes to the new focus by adding references to national legislation in provisions that mention gay men, drug users and prisoners, diplomats and civil society groups said. The amendments were rejected over fears that these would allow Russia, Iran and other countries that criminalize homosexuality to deny anti-retroviral treatment and other services to gay men. Russia has also balked at harm-reduction treatment such as syringe and needle programs, even though the majority of HIV infections in that country are linked to drug injections. Russian senior health official Dilyara Ravilova-Borovik told the gathering that while more must be done to end HIV/AIDS, governments have a "sovereign right" to decide on their public health strategy. The three-day meeting opened with a call to action from Nelson Mandela's grandson, Ndaba, whose father Makgatho died of AIDS in 2005. Makgatho was the late South African president's last surviving son. Ndaba Mandela urged the leaders of 35 countries that deny entry visas to people living with HIV -- including Russia and Singapore -- to "end travel restrictions now." "Bigotry and fear do nothing but spread the virus," he said. In the lead-up to the conference, Russia, 51 Muslim countries, Cameroon and Tanzania blocked 22 LGBT groups from receiving accreditation to the conference. After the United States and the European Union protested the exclusion, 16 groups were included in delegations from other governments and non-governmental groups. Source:
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| skibboy | 12 Jul 2016, 12:02 AM Post #13 |
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11 July 2016 Scientists outline stategy for AIDS cure © AFP/File / by Marlowe Hood | Anchored by French virologist and Nobel Medicine laureate Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, pictured on May 30, 2016, a group of more than 50 top scientists unveiled an aggressive research strategy for an outright cure to the AIDS epidemic PARIS (AFP) - Calling the AIDS epidemic "the most important global health challenge in modern history," more than 50 top scientists pressed their case Monday for a drive to stop the killer disease in its tracks. Anchored by Nobel Medicine laureate Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, the group unveiled an aggressive research strategy for an outright cure -- an objective once seen as unrealistic and out of reach. "Not long ago, few considered the possibility that a cure for HIV infection could some day be possible," said Barre-Sinoussi, who in 1983 helped identify the mysterious virus that causes AIDS. Today, "the search for a cure has become a top priority in HIV research," she said in a statement, hailing a "new optimism" among experts. The blueprint is published in the journal Nature Medicine ahead of a meeting of specialists on July 18-22 at the 21st International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa. The scientists take stock of many recent gains in treating the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), but argue that the solution for ending the pandemic lies in a cure. In 2004, AIDS deaths peaked at more than two million. Last year, the toll was around 1.2 million lives -- a decline attributed in large part to the success of anti-retroviral (ART) drugs, which reduce the symptoms of people carrying the virus. - 'Daunting' situation- But less than half of an estimated 37 million people worldwide living with HIV receive therapy. Helping them to grasp that lifeline will require a huge, lifelong commitment. On top of that, the powerful drugs can have toxic side-effects. Those problems are "daunting" and the economic costs "might be unsustainable," the strategy warned. As a result, preventing and destroying the virus should be top priorities. On the prevention scoreboard, experimental vaccines show promise, but are probably years away. As for eradication, scientists understand far better now how HIV remains barricaded in tissues -- such as the lymph nodes and the gut -- after being beaten back by ART therapy, the standard drug cocktail given to HIV patients. Research has found starting ART therapy early limits the ability of the virus to establish a redoubt. The scientists also outline an array of tactics for identifying how the virus tucks itself away inside the human body, and methods for flushing it out and killing it. But, they say, "the challenges... remain substantial," and there are still many pieces missing in the puzzle. One prime target is so-called CD4-plus T cells. These play a central role in the body's immune system, which defends against viral and microbial intruders. HIV finds secret hideaways in long-lived "memory" versions of these cells, but how the virus does this is not fully understood. Another objective is to strengthen the immune system. Foot-soldiers known as "broadly neutralising antibodies" may be able to recognise these latently-infected cells, and then call on specialised "killer" cells to destroy them. Better lab tools are needed, the scientists added, for measuring HIV persistence. A common idea is that HIV only needs a few CD4-plus T cells to hideout. But sequencing of viral genomes suggest the disease's reservoir could be much larger. Barre-Sinoussi launched the cure initiative in 2010 among a small group of scientists, some of whom were doubtful that eradicating HIV -- as opposed to holding it in check -- was feasible. Two years later, the group developed its first long-term strategy, which is now being updated. Global investment in finding a cure has risen from $88 million (80 million euros) in 2012 to $202 million (183 million euros) in 2015, most of which came from the US government. by Marlowe Hood Source:
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| skibboy | 16 Jul 2016, 11:52 PM Post #14 |
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16 July 2016 AIDS summit in South Africa to warn of lagging effort © AFP / by Kristen Van Schie | AIDS activists hold banners and wave flags as they attend a march called "Keep The Promise 2016" through the streets of Durban on July 16, 2016 JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Sixteen years after Nelson Mandela galvanised the world to take up the fight against AIDS, experts and activists return to the South African city of Durban on Monday, seeking to revitalise the fight against the disease. Some 18,000 scientists, campaigners, funders and lawmakers are descending on the port city for the five-day 21st International AIDS Conference -- a council of war on a pandemic that has claimed more than 30 million lives in 35 years. Singer Elton John and Britain's Prince Harry will host a session at the conference discussing the HIV epidemic among young people. "The message from Durban to the world is going to be that it's too soon to declare victory. We have a long way to go," International AIDS Society president Chris Beyrer told AFP. Until 2000, only wealthier countries had hosted the biennial AIDS meeting. That all changed when South Africa became the first developing country - and the first with an unbridled epidemic of HIV in its population - to take the helm. The conference was a highly-charged affair, but its emotional zap transformed the AIDS campaign. Campaigners fired verbal volleys at Big Pharma, accusing drugs companies of providing life-saving drugs to HIV patients in rich countries but ignoring counterparts in poor economies. - Mbeki in firing line - And South African activists angrily levelled accusations of AIDS-denialism at then-president Thabo Mbeki, who insisted the disease was caused by poverty, not by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The star-studded cast in Durban was headed by Mbeki's predecessor Mandela, who described the epidemic as "one of the greatest threats humankind has faced." The surge of energy from Durban helped launch a string of programmes to provide life-saving drugs for the Third World and dynamise research into new frontiers. But 16 years after Durban, there are fears that HIV, by becoming a chronic but manageable disease, has become like wallpaper. With no cure for the virus in sight, patients face lifelong reliance on expensive antiretroviral drugs which cause side effects. This time around, delegates will pore over the latest scientific research, amid frustration that there is still no vaccine for the stealthy, shape-changing virus. - An AIDS-free generation? - The United Nations has set a target of ending the AIDS pandemic by 2030, but warned that efforts are lagging. Infection rates are rising in many regions of the world, the UNAIDS agency said, with Russia especially hard hit. There are some 36.7 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. Of these, only 17 million are receiving treatment. "We have to reach the other 20 million people living with HIV, and that's going to take resources," said Beyrer. Nobel Medicine laureate Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, the French virologist who co-discovered the AIDS virus in 1983, stressed the need for more funding. "We need to renew investment and make all the changes needed to move towards an AIDS-free generation," she told AFP. - 'A painful moment' - Delegates expect a different focus and tone compared with the Durban of 16 years ago. At the time, hundreds of delegates walked out when Mbeki, who relied on advice from discredited scientists, told the conference opening: "It seemed to me that we could not blame everything on a single virus." Mbeki denied millions access to life-saving antiretroviral drugs, and a Harvard study later concluded his policies were responsible for 300,000 avoidable deaths in South Africa. "It was a very painful moment in the world," Beyrer recalled of the 2000 event. Things changed under subsequent leaders, and South Africa now has the world's largest treatment programme. "The world no longer looks at us as a pariah," South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi told AFP. The battle is far from won, however, with 300,000 new infections in the country in 2014-15, and some 2,000 young women infected per week. In the rest of the world, progress has also been uneven. New infections globally fell six percent since 2010 -- from 2.2 million to 2.1 million, and AIDS-related deaths have almost halved from their peak, at two million, in 2005. Infections are soaring in north Africa and the Middle East, which now has the fastest-growing epidemic. In Russia, where reported HIV infections topped one million last year, government resistance to supporting programmes for gay men and drug users is exacerbating the crisis. "We really hope people will come away from Durban with commitment to fix the laws, policies and practices in their countries that continue to block access to these people who need it most," said Beyrer. by Kristen Van Schie Source:
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| skibboy | 24 Aug 2016, 01:17 AM Post #15 |
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HIV effort let down by test shortages, says WHO 23 minutes ago ![]() A shortage of HIV testing could undermine global efforts to diagnose and treat people with the infection, warn experts from the World Health Organization. They looked at responses to annual surveys that the WHO had sent to 127 countries between 2012 and 2014 asking about capacity and usage of blood tests that check HIV status and health. They found worrying gaps in provision. They warn that United Nation targets for HIV could be missed as a result. The targets say that by 2020, 90% of all people living with HIV should know their HIV status, 90% of those diagnosed should receive antiretroviral therapy and 90% of these treated patients should have "durable viral suppression" (a measure of effective treatment). Laboratory testing is vital to meet and monitor these aims. But Vincent Habiyambere and his colleagues say in the journal PLoS Medicine that some low and middle-income countries, including African countries where the HIV burden is high, are not yet geared up for the challenge. The surveys were sent to: • all 47 countries in the WHO African Region • 33 countries in the WHO Region of the Americas • all 21 countries in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region • eight high-burden HIV countries in the WHO European Region • all 11 countries in the WHO South-East Asia Region • seven high-burden HIV countries in the WHO Western Pacific Region Over the three survey years, 55 (43%) countries responded to all three surveys, 35 (28%) to two surveys, 25 (20%) to one survey, and nine (7%) responded to none of the three surveys. Testing provision did improve over the years, but shortfalls remained in some parts of the world. Worrying gaps Reasons for the gaps in provision included lack of reagents, equipment not being installed or maintained properly and inadequate or absent staff training. In some laboratories, machines were not serviced regularly. In others, machines broke down and were not covered by contracts to be serviced or fixed. Dr Habiyambere and his team say: "A national laboratory strategic plan to strengthen services must be developed, implemented, and monitored by governments and their national and international partners. "The focus of the international community, to ensure optimal use of laboratory technologies, should be on those countries where interventions for scaling up access to HIV diagnostic technologies are most needed." They acknowledge that they did not look at private sector testing and that some countries might rely more heavily on this than others. In an accompanying editorial, HIV experts Peter Kilmarx and Raiva Simbi say the findings show some programmes may have been "overly focused" on buying equipment without planning for how it would be used and maintained. In Zimbabwe, for example, only 5.6% of HIV patients on drug treatment in 2015 received regular blood checks to monitor their viral load - far fewer than the goal of 21%. This was largely down to problems with resource mobilisation and specimen transport as well as equipment procurement, they say. "Strong leadership, resources, planning, and management are needed to scale up laboratory services," they conclude. Source:
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| skibboy | 29 Sep 2016, 11:46 PM Post #16 |
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One in 10 children has 'Aids defence' By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News website 29 September 2016 ![]() A 10th of children have a "monkey-like" immune system that stops them developing Aids, a study suggests. The study, in Science Translational Medicine, found the children's immune systems were "keeping calm", which prevented them being wiped out. An untreated HIV infection will kill 60% of children within two and a half years, but the equivalent infection in monkeys is not fatal. The findings could lead to new immune-based therapies for HIV infection. The virus eventually wipes out the immune system, leaving the body vulnerable to other infections, what is known as acquired human immunodeficiency syndrome (Aids). The researchers analysed the blood of 170 children from South Africa who had HIV, had never had antiretroviral therapy and yet had not developed Aids. Tests showed they had tens of thousands of human immunodeficiency viruses in every millilitre of their blood. This would normally send their immune system into overdrive, trying to fight the infection, or simply make them seriously ill, but neither had happened. Keep calm and carry on Prof Philip Goulder, one of the researchers from the University of Oxford, told the BBC: "Essentially, their immune system is ignoring the virus as far as possible. "Waging war against the virus is in most cases the wrong thing to do." Counter-intuitively, not attacking the virus seems to save the immune system. HIV kills white blood cells - the warriors of the immune system. And when the body's defences go into overdrive, even more of them can be killed by chronic levels of inflammation. Prof Goulder said: "One of the things that comes out of this study is that HIV disease is not so much to do with HIV, but with the immune response to it." For scientists, the way the 10% of children cope with the virus has striking similarities to the way more than 40 non-human primate species cope with simian immunodeficiency virus or SIV. They have had hundreds of thousands of years to evolve ways to tackle the infection. "Natural selection has worked in these cases, and the mechanism is very similar to the one in these kids that don't progress," Prof Goulder said. War or peace? This defence against Aids is almost unique to children. Adult humans' immune systems tend to go all-out to finish off the virus in a campaign that nearly always ends in failure. Children have a relatively tolerant immune system, which becomes more aggressive in adulthood - chickenpox, for example, is far more severe in adults due to the way the immune system reacts. But this does mean that as the protected children age and their immune system matures, there is a risk of them developing Aids. Some do, some remain Aids-free. Dr Ann Chahroudi and Dr Guido Silvestri, from Emory University in the US, said the study may have found the "very earliest signs of coevolution of HIV in humans". In a commentary, they added: "It is not known whether it would be clinically safe for these newly identified HIV infected paediatric non-progressors to remain off-therapy. "This assessment is further complicated by the fact that prevention of HIV transmission to sexual partners becomes relevant in adolescence." People with HIV can have normal life-expectancy if they have access to antiretroviral drugs. But their super-heated immune system never returns to normal, and they face greater risks of cardiovascular disease, cancer and dementia. Prof Goulder believes these findings in children could ultimately help rebalance the immune system in all HIV patients. He told the BBC: "We may be identifying an entirely new pathway by studying kids that in the longer term could be translated to new treatments for all HIV infected people." Source:
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| skibboy | 27 Oct 2016, 12:46 AM Post #17 |
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HIV Patient Zero cleared by science By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News website 6 hours ago ![]() One of the most demonised patients in history - Gaetan Dugas - has been convincingly cleared of claims he spread HIV to the US, say scientists. Mr Dugas, a homosexual flight attendant, gained legendary status in the history of HIV/Aids when he became known as Patient Zero. But a study, in the journal Nature, showed he was just one of thousands of infected people in the 1970s. It also showed New York was a crucial hub for the spread of the virus. Aids only started to be recognised in 1981 when unusual symptoms started appearing in gay men. But researchers were able to look further back in time by analysing stored blood samples, some of them containing HIV, from hepatitis trials in the 1970s. The team at the University of Arizona developed a new method to reconstruct the genetic code of the virus in those patients. And after screening 2,000 samples from New York and San Francisco, the researchers were able to get eight complete HIV genetic codes. That gave scientists the information they needed to build HIV's family tree and trace when it arrived in the US. Dr Michael Worobey, one of the researchers, said: "The samples contain so much genetic diversity that they could not have originated in the late 1970s. "We can place the most precise dates on the origins of the US epidemic at about 1970 or 1971." The researchers also analysed the genetic code of human immunodeficiency virus taken from Mr Dugas's blood. Like a failed paternity test, the results showed that the virus in his blood was not the "father" of the US epidemic. Dr Richard McKay, a science historian at the University of Cambridge, said: "Gaetan Dugas is one of the most demonised patients in history and one of a long line of individuals and groups vilified in the belief that they somehow fuelled epidemics with malicious intent." The Air Canada employee was labelled Patient O (the letter, not the number) by the US Centres for Disease Control because he was a case "Out-of-California". Over time the O became a 0 and the term Patient Zero was born. It is still used to this day to describe the index case of an outbreak as with Ebola in west Africa. Mr Dugas died in 1984, but was identified as Patient Zero in the book And the Band Played On. ![]() The study also uncovered New York's key role in the spread of the infection. Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo was seen as the city that started the global pandemic. From there it spread to the Caribbean and the US around 1970. Dr Worobey said: "In New York City, the virus encountered a population that was like dry tinder, causing the epidemic to burn hotter and faster and infecting enough people that it grabs the world's attention for the first time. "Just as Kinshasa was a key turning point for the pandemic virus as a whole, New York City looks like a turning point and acts as this hub from which the virus moves to the west coast and eventually to Western Europe, Australia, Japan, South America and all sorts of other places." Prof Oliver Pybus, from the University of Oxford, commented: "This new data helps confirm the picture of HIV's origins in the US. "It makes a very interesting point about Patient Zero, who has become a talking point in the origins of Aids, yet no matter how attractive a narrative it is, it doesn't have any scientific basis and it's really unfortunate that this person was identified." Source:
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| skibboy | 5 Dec 2016, 12:14 AM Post #18 |
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HIV 'game-changer' now on NHS By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News website 4 December 2016 ![]() A drug that dramatically reduces the risk of being infected with HIV will now be given to patients by the NHS in England. The health service lost a court battle in the summer after arguing responsibility for paying for it should fall to local authorities not the NHS. Now at least 10,000 people will be given the "Prep" drug in a three-year-long clinical trial. NHS England says this will help them understand how to offer it more widely. Pre-exposure prophylaxis or Prep is a daily pill that disables HIV before it gets a stranglehold in the body. It costs £400 a month per person and trials suggest it can cut the risk of being infected by up to 86%. NHS England, which fought not to offer the drug, said in a statement there was "strong" evidence that it was effective. However, it said there were still questions to be answered about how it is used on a wide scale across England. Large-scale trial Its trial on at least 10,000 people will try to figure out how to get the drugs to the right people, how popular it would be and for how long they would take Prep. Dr Ian Williams, chairman of NHS England's group on HIV, said: "This announcement demonstrates NHS England's commitment to fund Prep and provides the chance to best prepare England for optimal roll-out following this large-scale clinical trial. "For now, the trial will provide access to Prep for thousands of people most at risk of acquiring HIV." Men who have sex with men are one of the groups at the highest risk of contracting HIV. In London, one in eight gay men has HIV, while the proportion in the rest of the UK is one in 26. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 'This is about saving lives' ![]() Harry Dodd says taking Prep has still not become socially acceptable Harry Dodd, 25, is one of about 500 homosexual men in England who are taking Prep as part of a trial called Proud. He says: "I've seen the panic on the face of previous boyfriends when they are awaiting their [HIV test] results - it's a huge fear and it affects everything you do. "To be able to have sex without having that fear hanging over you all the time is huge." Harry says taking Prep has still not become socially acceptable. "Too many people seem to think it will encourage a hedonistic lifestyle, but for me this is about saving lives," he says. "People reacted with cynicism when the contraceptive pill for women was first introduced. "For me, taking Prep has helped me to trust again, have relationships and build bridges and that shouldn't be taken away." ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dr Michael Brady, medical director of the Terrence Higgins Trust, said the evidence on Prep was "overwhelming" but the new trial could help understand how it will work in real life. He added: "However, we do still need answers to many questions about the trial, in terms of how exactly the trial will work in practice, how those at risk will be able to access Prep, no matter where they live, and what will happen after the trial." Deborah Gold, chief executive of the National Aids Trust, said: "We are absolutely delighted that following our wins in court, NHS England, working with Public Health England and local government, will be now making Prep available on a large scale, and quickly, to those who need it." The NHS in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have not yet made a decision on Prep. Source:
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| skibboy | 16 Mar 2017, 02:41 AM Post #19 |
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15 March 2017 Scientists zoom in on AIDS virus hideout © AFP/File | There is no cure for HIV, and infected people have to take virus-suppressing drugs for life PARIS (AFP) - French scientists said Wednesday they had found a way to pinpoint elusive white blood cells which provide a hideout for the AIDS virus in people taking anti-HIV drugs. Being able to spot, and one day neutralise, these "reservoir" cells has long been a holy grail in the quest to wipe out AIDS and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes it. The discovery "paves the way to a better fundamental understanding of viral reservoirs," said France's CNRS research institute, which took part in the study published in Nature. "In the longer term, it should lead to therapeutic strategies aiming to eliminate the latent virus," it added in a statement. There is no cure for HIV, and infected people have to take virus-suppressing drugs for life. This is because a small number of immune system cells, in a category of cell called CD4 T lymphocytes, provide a haven for the virus, enabling it to re-emerge and spread if treatment is stopped -- even after decades. In tests using the blood of HIV patients, the researchers managed to spot a protein, dubbed CD32a, on the surface of virus-infected reservoir cells. It was absent from healthy cells. Such a "marker" has proved very difficult to find, explained AIDS researcher Douglas Richman from the University of California San Diego, who did not take part in the study. A person infected with HIV has about 200 billion CD4 T cells, of which only one in a million act as virus reservoirs. Two percent of the body's CD4 T cells (some four billion) are found in the approximately five litres of blood in an adult human, said Richman. This means that a 100-millilitre blood sample would contain about 80 million CD4 T cells, of which around 80 would be virus reservoirs. Whether CD32a plays an active part in enabling the virus to hole up in CD4 cells is a big question. If so, it could throw open a tempting target for drugs to block the stealthy process. While describing the study as "potentially seminal", Richman cautioned that CD32a was a marker found in only about half of CD4 T reservoir cells. To eradicate latent HIV would require the targeting of a much larger proportion. It also remains to be seen whether CD32a is as good a marker for non-blood CD4 T cells in the lymph nodes, bone marrow, gut and other tissues which could be reservoirs, he added. Source: .com
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| skibboy | 24 Jul 2017, 01:24 AM Post #20 |
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23 July 2017 Global HIV meeting urges US to 'stay engaged' on AIDS funding ![]() © AFP/File | More than 6,000 scientists are gathered in the French capital to assess advances in AIDS science amid concerns over funds drying up PARIS (AFP) - Organisers of an international HIV science conference on Sunday urged the US government, a major donor of AIDS research and treatment programmes, to "stay engaged" even as President Donald Trump has threatened cuts. "The American people are a major funder in this and we need them to stay engaged," International AIDS Society president Linda-Gail Bekker told journalists in Paris. Failure to do so, she said, would "jeopardise" lives. More than 6,000 scientists are gathered in the French capital until Wednesday to assess advances in AIDS science amid concerns over funds drying up. Globally, government donor funding for HIV dropped last year to the lowest level since 2010 -- from $7.5 billion (6.4 billion euros) to $7 billion, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), a California-based health policy NGO. The United States has for years been the biggest contributor to the global fight against HIV infection, accounting for about two-thirds of funding by governments. Trump's proposed budget, submitted in May, "reduces funding for several global health programmes, including HIV/AIDS, with the expectation that other donors can and should increase their commitments." "We've heard from the White House certainly suggestions of cuts that sound like they could seriously jeopardise the response to the epidemic," said Bekker. "This is a disastrous time to see not only flat-lining but actually a reduction in funds," with ever more people in need of treatment. Source: .com
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| skibboy | 24 Jul 2017, 11:53 PM Post #21 |
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South African child 'virtually cured' of HIV By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News, Paris 24 July 2017 ![]() The child caught the infection from its mother around the time of birth A nine-year-old infected with HIV at birth has spent most of their life without needing any treatment, say doctors in South Africa. The child, whose identity is being protected, was given a burst of treatment shortly after birth. They have since been off drugs for eight-and-a-half years without symptoms or signs of active virus. The family is said to be "really delighted". Most people need treatment every day to prevent HIV destroying the immune system and causing Aids. Understanding how the child is protected could lead to new drugs or a vaccine for stopping HIV. The child caught the infection from their mother around the time of birth in 2007. They had very high levels of HIV in the blood. Early antiretroviral therapy was not standard practice at the time, but was given to the child from nine weeks old as part of a clinical trial. Levels of the virus became undetectable, treatment was stopped after 40 weeks and unlike anybody else on the study - the virus has not returned. Early therapy which attacks the virus before it has a chance to fully establish itself has been implicated in child "cure" cases twice before. The "Mississippi Baby" was put on treatment within 30 hours of birth and went 27 months without treatment before HIV re-emerged in her blood. There was also a case in France with a patient who has now gone more than 11 years without drugs. Dr Avy Violari, the head of paediatric research at the Perinal HIV Research Unit in Johannesburg, said: "We don't believe that antiretroviral therapy alone can lead to remission. "We don't really know what's the reason why this child has achieved remission - we believe it's either genetic or immune system-related." 'Virtual cure' Some people are naturally better at dealing with an HIV infection - so-called "elite controllers". However, whatever the child has is different to anything that has been seen before. Replicating it as a new form of therapy - a drug, antibody or vaccine - would have the potential to help other patients. It is worth noting that while there is no active HIV in the child's body, the virus has been detected in the child's immune cells. HIV can hide inside them - called latent HIV - for long periods of time, so there is still a danger the child could need drug treatment in the future. The team in Johannesburg performed the study alongside the UK's MRC Clinical Trials Unit. 'One child' Prof Diana Gibb, who is based in London, told the BBC News website: "It captures the imagination because you've got a virtual cure and it is exciting to see cases like this. "But it is important to remember it is one child. "HIV is still a massive problem around the world and we mustn't put all our eyes on to one phenomenon like this, as opposed to looking at the bigger issues for Africa." Worldwide, 36.7 million people are living with HIV and only 53% of them are receiving antiretroviral therapy. Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said: "Further study is needed to learn how to induce long-term HIV remission in infected babies. "However, this new case strengthens our hope that by treating HIV-infected children for a brief period beginning in infancy, we may be able to spare them the burden of lifelong therapy and the health consequences of long-term immune activation typically associated with HIV disease." The results are being presented at the IAS Conference on HIV Science. Source: .com
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| skibboy | 10 Jan 2018, 02:20 AM Post #22 |
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Once-a-week pill for HIV shows promise in animals 7 hours ago ![]() The once-a-week pill would look much like any other regular drug capsule Human trials of a once-a-week oral pill for HIV could start, after successful tests in pigs, claim US scientists. The slow-release tablet could free patients from having to take daily medication, they say. It looks like a normal capsule, but on reaching the stomach its coating dissolves and a special structure packed inside unfolds. This 4cm (1.5in) star-shaped scaffold stays in the stomach for seven days, steadily releasing its cargo of drugs. More tests in other mammals, including monkeys, are recommended but the researchers say trails in people could begin within two years. HIV experts said the prospect of a new treatment option was to be welcomed, but that a once-a-week HIV pill for people was "still a way off". ![]() The star is too large to move out of the stomach but still allows food to journey through to the small intestine. Once it has delivered its payload, the star begins to degrade and passes on through the digestive tract. In the pig trial, the researchers dosed it with enough of three antiretroviral drugs - dolutegravir, rilpivirine and cabotegravir - to last for seven days. The researchers say, in the future, the oral drug delivery device could be used for a wide range of diseases, not just HIV. Slow release Preliminary tests in pigs have already been done with a malaria drug called ivermectin and the star remaining in the stomach for up to two weeks. Researcher Giovanni Traverso, from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brigham and Women's Hospital in the US, said: "We wanted to come up with a system to make it easier for patients to stick to taking their treatments. "Changing a medication so it only needs to be taken once a week rather than once a day should be more convenient and improve compliance. "Once-a-month formulations might even be possible for some diseases." A company called Lyndra is now developing the technology and plans human trials of the long-lasting oral delivery pills within the next 12 months. Tests with HIV medication could begin after that, subject to approval and more animal tests. Dr Traverso said: "There are lots of patients this could help, including people with dementia or mental health disorders such as schizophrenia." Some slow-release drugs could already be given by injection, he said. A spokeswoman from the British HIV Association said: "This research is still in the early stages of development and there is clearly some way to go from testing in pigs and mathematical modelling to human trials before its effectiveness can be assessed." A Terrence Higgins Trust representative said: "Medical advances have come on leaps and bounds for HIV in the UK in recent years, however we do know that taking a pill each day does present practical barriers for some people living with HIV. "We welcome the prospect of a treatment that removes these barriers, and presents all people living with HIV with further choice, provided that it is no less effective than current options available." The HIV research, published in the journal Nature Communications, was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Brigham and Women's Hospital. Source: .com
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| skibboy | 7 Jul 2018, 01:16 AM Post #23 |
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HIV vaccine shows promise in human trial By Alex Therrien Health reporter, BBC News 10 minutes ago ![]() An HIV vaccine that has the potential to protect people around the world from the virus has shown promising results. The treatment, which aims to provide immunity against various strains of the virus, produced an anti-HIV immune system response in tests on 393 people, a study in the Lancet found. It also protected some monkeys from a virus that is similar to HIV. More testing is now needed to determine if the immune response produced can prevent HIV infection in people. About 37 million people worldwide live with HIV or Aids, and there are an estimated 1.8 million new cases every year. But despite advances in treatment for HIV, both a cure and a vaccine for the virus have so far remained elusive. The drug Prep, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, is effective at preventing HIV infection, but, unlike a vaccine, it needs to be taken regularly, even daily, to prevent the virus from taking hold. Inventing a vaccine has proved an immense challenge for scientists, in part because there are so many strains of the virus, but also because HIV is adept at mutating to elude attack from our immune systems. Previous attempts at HIV vaccines have been limited to specific strains of the virus found in certain parts of the world. But for this "mosaic" vaccine, scientists have developed a treatment made up of pieces of different HIV viruses. The hope is that it could offer much better protection against the almost unlimited number of HIV strains found across the world. ![]() In a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, scientists tested various combinations of the mosaic vaccine in people aged 18 to 50 who did not have HIV and were healthy. The participants, from the US, Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa, and Thailand, received four vaccinations over the course of 48 weeks. All of the vaccine combinations produced an anti-HIV immune system response and were found to be safe. Scientists also carried out a parallel study where they gave rhesus monkeys the vaccine to protect them from getting simian-human immunodeficiency virus - a virus similar to HIV that infects monkeys. The mosaic vaccine combination that showed the most promise in humans was found to protect 67% of the 72 monkeys from getting the disease. "These results represent an important milestone," said Dan Barouch, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and lead author of the study. However, Prof Barouch also cautioned that the findings needed to be interpreted with caution. Though the vaccine triggered a response in the immune system of the people who took it, it is not clear if this would be enough to fight off the virus and prevent infection. "The challenges in the development of an HIV vaccine are unprecedented, and the ability to induce HIV-specific immune responses does not necessarily indicate that a vaccine will protect humans from HIV infection," he added. 'Promising signs' Nevertheless, the promising results of the study mean researchers will next test the treatment on 2,600 women in southern Africa who are at risk of getting the illness - one of only five vaccines to make it to this stage of so-called efficacy trials. Only one vaccine has ever shown evidence of protecting against HIV. A vaccine tested in Thailand lowered the rate of human infection by 31%, but the effect was considered too low to advance it to common use. Dr Michael Brady, medical director at the Terrence Higgins Trust, said it was early days for the vaccine but the signs were "promising". "However, it's important to be cautious and be clear that there's a lot of work to do before an effective HIV vaccine is readily available." Dr Brady added that in the meantime there were already tools that were effective for preventing the disease from spreading, such as contraception and treatments for HIV-positive people that prevent them from passing on the virus. Source: bbc.com
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3:23 PM Jul 11