A roundup of HIV-related news from Australian and selected international media.
In this edition:
Top story
Health Canal.com (US), 7 Jun
Human immunodeficiency virusA small infective organism which is incapable of reproducing outside a host cell. (HIV) superinfection may be as common as initial HIV infection and is not limited to high risk-populations, according to a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
superinfection
Our Region
Jakarta Post (Indonesia), 7 Jun
The number of young people in Singapore diagnosed with HIV has doubled in the past seven years, according to Ministry of Health statistics.
epidemic youth Singapore
International
PlusNews, 7 Jun
The Kenyan government will begin distributing free syringes and needles to more than 50,000 injecting drug users (IDUs) across the country in the next month. Policy-makers and experts said the decision was reached following concerns over the spread of HIV and other blood-borne illnesses through injection drug use.
IDU prevention needle exchange Kenya
BBC News (UK), 7 Jun video
Professor Francoise Barre-Sinoussi who was awarded a Nobel Prize for her work identifying HIV says the Pope should do more to encourage the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV. This article also links to a story in which Barre-Sinoussi discusses the evidence which could suggest a cure is possible.
cure prevention condoms pope-benedict-xvi
Nine MSN news, 7 Jun
The parents of a nine-year-old girl in the US will have to wait a year to find out if she contracted any diseases after being pricked by a used syringe in a hotel bed.
needlestick USA
Australia Network News, 6 Jun
Some of Australia's leading businesses have helped fund a documentary exploring the plight of children in Papua New Guinea affected by HIV AIDS. The film was launched on Wednesday, in Melbourne at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image.
children orphans Papua New Guinea
HIV Treatment and Care
Fox news, 7 Jun
Timothy Brown made medical history when he became the first patient who was essentially cured of HIV, after receiving a stem cell transplant from a person who was genetically resistantHIV which has mutated and is less susceptible to the effects of one or more anti-HIV drugs is said to be resistant. to the infection. Now, doctors are hoping to build on Brown’s success by treating HIV patients using cord blood units that have the same HIV-resistant gene.
stem cells cure transplants cord blood
medicalxpress.com, 7 Jun
In a critical step that may lead to more effective HIV treatments, Harvard scientists have found that, in a small number of HIV patients, pre-existing mutations in the virus can cause it to develop resistance to the drugs used to slow the progression of the disease.
drug development resistance
Aidsmap (UK), 6 Jun
The use of rapid, point-of-care CD4 cell tests increases the chances that people diagnosed with HIV when using mobile HIV counselling and testing (HCT) services will be successfully linked to care, investigators from South Africa report.
point-of-care-testing CD4-count
AIDSMeds (US), 6 Jun
People living with both HIV and diabetes are much more likely to develop progressive chronic kidney disease (CKD) than people living with only one of the conditions, according to a study conducted by Veterans Healthcare Administration investigators and published ahead of print by the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.
comorbidities coinfection diabetes kidney-disease kidney
AIDSMeds (US), 7 Jun
People living with HIV—notably women, anyone younger than 50 and those with unchecked viral loads—are significantly more likely to experience a stroke compared with those not infected with the virus, according to a study published online ahead of print by the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.
viral load stroke womens-health women
HIV Prevention
Aidsmap (UK), 6 Jun
Adherence to intermittent pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is significantly poorer than adherence to daily PrEP, according to a study published in PLoS One. The research involved men who have sex with men (MSM) and female sex workers in Kenya. Average adherence among the individuals taking daily treatment was 83%, but fell to just 55% for those taking intermittent therapy.
adherence PrEP prevention Kenya sex work and sex workers MSM
Aidsmap (UK), 6 Jun
Older, better-educated gay men who use sexual networking sites and have sex outside the context of committed relationships may be appropriate targets for intermittent pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), US research suggests.
social-media PrEP gay men social networking
HIV Criminalisation
Criminal transmission blogspot, 7 Jun media release
Comment on the ruling by Edwin Bernard of the Positive Justice Project: The ruling is particularly important because it makes clear that a person's health status, disability or other physical attributes should never be the basis for increased charges or sentencing.
Edwin Bernard USA criminalisation criminal law saliva
Chicago Tribune (US)/Reuters, 7 Jun
An HIV-positive man who admitted to biting a police officer attempting to arrest him had his aggravated assault conviction overturned on Thursday by New York's top court, which ruled the man's saliva did not qualify as a deadly weapon.
criminalisation criminal-law saliva
Friday Viral Video
YouTube, 8 Dec
An entertaining HIV prevention video. Worth a look.
condoms prevention
Welfare & Work
New York Times (US), 6 Jun opinion
A South African company that offers life insurance to people living with HIV says that its clients are healthier and that providing insurance has a positive effect in combating stigma.
insurance South Africa
Women's Health
news medical.net (US), 7 Jun
The HIV drugs known as CCR5 antagonists may also help prevent aggressive breast cancers from metastasizing, researchers from the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson suggest in a preclinicalReferring to the testing of experimental drugs in the test tube or in animals – the testing that occurs before trials in humans may be carried out. study published in a recent issue of Cancer Research.
ccr5 breast-cancer
Sexual Health
Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 7 Jun
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced that gonorrhoea is growing resistant to drugs and could soon become untreatable. The WHO is urging governments and doctors to step up surveillance of the disease.
resistance STIs sexual-health gonorrhoea
GLBTI News
Behind the mask, 8 Jun
Gay rights activists in Uganda have opened up Uganda’s first ever LGBTI clinic which will specifically focus on homosexuals HIV/Aids and Sexually Transmitted Infections and general welfare.
Uganda GLBT health Africa glbti
Society & Culture
Los Angeles Times (US), 7 Jun
After years percolating, the film “Dallas Buyer’s Club” - about a redneck Texan who contracted HIV in the 1980s and began importing experimental(Of a drug) Not licensed for use in humans, or as a treatment for a particular condition. Experimental drugs are studied in clinical trials to determine their safety and efficacy, and are sometimes made available via Special Access Schemes prior to their approval. foreign remedies in the early days of the AIDS epidemic - is moving ahead this fall, actor Matthew McConaughey says.
film Matthew McConaughey history
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