HIV •

Black Americans Receive Less Medication Against HIV Than White Citizens

February 6, 2016 By Janet Vasquez Leave a Comment

Latest news reported that black Americans receive less medication against HIV than white citizens.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US declared that African American people with the HIV virus are given less treatment and care than white individuals.

It was established that since 2005, the HIV diagnoses rate decreased by 19 percent in the United States. Among African American women the infection rate has minimized in the last period. However, black communities are still facing racial prejudice.

38 percent of black individuals were positively diagnosed with HIV. In spite of this, in 2014 only 12 percent of the black population was given medical care.

On the contrary, between 2011 and 2013 the ongoing medication against HIV was received by 50 percent of the white citizens with HIV.

African American women infected with the virus had a higher rate of medical care. For them, the figure was around 44 percent, while black men who received medical care only rose to 35 percent.

The head of the CDC’s Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Eugene McCray said that the CDC has been trying for many years to fight against racial discrimination in black communities.

The safest way to help individuals with HIV is by giving them continuous care in order to prevent other new infections. According to the CDC, HIV is often spread by people who don’t receive proper treatment. Moreover, individuals who are unaware of their infections are also a cause for the virus’ propagation.

McCray stated that their focus is to give an early diagnosis to people who live in the US. He also added that it’s the CDC’s duty to provide patients with consistent care so as to improve their life quality. According to the CDC, the US is making huge efforts in order to bring the disease under control. Their plan is to implement effective HIV prevention strategies, especially for black communities.

In addition, the department announced that State health agencies will receive extra funds in order to extend prevention plans as well treatment for black citizens. They also added that will focus more on gay, bisexual and transgender individuals who are often being disgraced.

The fact that black Americans receive less medication against HIV than white citizens means that racial divergences are a problem that will need even more time to be resolved.

Photo Credits: Wikimedia

Baby Though to Have Been Cured of HIV Shows Sings of HIV Infection in Blood

October 3, 2014 By Janet Vasquez Leave a Comment

This week we saw the results of a new study that showed how infant antibiotic exposure is associated with early childhood obesity. Today, we’ve got more amazing health news: it appears that a second child thought to have been cured of HIV has the virus present in his blood again.

Cured of HIV?

The Mississippi baby was the first infant in the world who was thought to have been cured of the horrible virus after receiving antiretroviral therapy hours after being born. Sadly, the virus returned two years after the baby was taken off the medicine.

Today, it was revealed that another baby was believed to have been cured of HIV, but had the virus return. This case comes from Milan, Italy, where the baby was born to a mother infected with HIV. 12 hours after the baby was born, it was determined that he had HIV present in his bloodstream. He was started with ART four days after he was born and 3 years later, the tests showed that he had no more HIV or HIV antibodies in his blood, thus he was believed to have been cured of HIV. Unfortunately, as soon as he was taken off the ART, the virus came back.

There is only one person in the world who is thought to have been officially cured of HIV. He is Ray Brown and he’s called the Berlin patient. The man was diagnosed with HIV in 1995 and received ART for 10 years. After being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, he received a bone marrow transplant from a donor who had a CCR5 gene mutation (that stops HIV from entering human cells). 5 years later, Ray Brown is still HIV free.

What are your thoughts on this news? Drop us a line in the comment section below and share your thoughts with us.

The Immune System of a Special Patient Provides HIV Vaccine Hope

March 17, 2014 By Troy Rubenson 1 Comment

Last week we covered news that brought hope to the fight against HIV, that a new vaginal gel could protect women against HIV infection even hours after sexual intercourse. This week new study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation and funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases presents a special patient with an even more special immune system, one that produces antibodies that are essential to the creation of an effective HIV vaccine. Basically, their immune system provides HIV vaccine hope and we’re here to tell you what we know about the study and its special patient.

The patient in cause has a very rare combination of SLE (systemic lupus erythematosus – an illness where the body’s cells and tissue are attacked by its own immune system) and HIV. Over the years, the scientists haven’t found another patient with these two illnesses combined, in order to determine if they’re making the broad neutralizing antibodies.

But this particular patient was indeed making these antibodies and the researchers only had to observe and understand how the immune system was doing what it was doing. Such broadly neutralizing antibodies are effective against many viruses and strains of pathogen by protecting the cells from infection and neutralizing the biological effects of the attackers.

HIV Vaccine Hope

This patient seems to hold the key for developing a successful HIV vaccine, because up until now the only problem that sat in the way of an effective HIV vaccine was getting the immune system to produce those broadly neutralizing antibodies.

There are some people, very few, who start producing these antibodies after becoming infected with HIV, but in some cases, it may take the body two years before it starts making them.

Those involved in the study consider this particular patient a an immense repository of important information that will help them come up with experimental HIV vaccines that works by overpowering the immune system’s control of broad neutralizing antibodies.

The scientists in no way suggest that people sick with lupus are immune to HIV. In case that thought crossed your mind.

Cocaine use may up HIV infection risk

October 1, 2013 By Janet Vasquez Leave a Comment

With the spread of deadly AIDS viruses, HIV increasing unabated, use of cocaine may increase one’s vulnerability to the infection, a new study has warned.

According to the scientists, cocaine alters immune cells, called “quiescent CD4 T cells,” to render them more susceptible to the virus, and at the same time, to allow for increased proliferation of the virus.

“Such discovery can significantly improve the quality of life of drug users,” Vatakis said.

Study

For the study, scientists collected blood from healthy human donors and isolated quiescent CD4 T cells, and exposed them to cocaine and subsequently infected them with HIV.

After the blood got infected, researchers monitored the progression of HIV’s life cycle and carried a comparative study of this progression against that of untreated cells.

They found that cocaine rendered this subset of CD4 T cells susceptible to HIV, resulting in significant infection and new virus production.

“The co-epidemics of illicit drug use and infectious disease are well documented, though typically this connection is thought to occur through lifestyle choices and increased exposure,” said John Wherry, Deputy Editor of the

Study was published in Journal of Leukocyte Biology.

Scientists develop intra-vaginal ring to prevent HIV

September 30, 2013 By Janet Vasquez Leave a Comment

Making an advancement in prevention of HIV that further leads to the deadly AIDS, a new study has suggested that the virus can be prevented with easy-to-use intra-vaginal ring filled with an anti-retroviral drug.

According to the study, the ring could be extremely effective at preventing the deadly HIV in women.

The researchers say, the ring is easy to use and long lasting.

It was recently demonstrated and found to be 100 percent successful from preventing the simian immunodeficiency virus (SHIV). The ring is easily inserted and stays in place for 30 days.

Patrick Kiser, an expert in intra-vaginal drug delivery, “After 10 years of work, we have created an intra-vaginal ring that can prevent against multiple HIV exposures over an extended period of time, with consistent prevention levels throughout the menstrual cycle.”

Previous studies have demonstrated that antiviral drugs can prevent HIV infection, but existing methods for delivering the drug fall short.

Pills must be taken daily and require high doses; vaginal gels that must be applied prior to each sex act are inconvenient, yielding poor usage rates.

And because it is delivered at the site of transmission, the ring – known as a TDF-IVR (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate intravaginal ring) – utilises a smaller dose than pills.

The device contains powdered tenofovir, an anti-retroviral drug that is taken orally by 3.5 million HIV-infected people worldwide, but that has not previously been studied topically, researchers said.

The device will soon undergo its first test in humans, researchers said. The upcoming clinical trial, to be conducted in November at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, will evaluate the ring in 60 women over 14 days.

During the trial, the ring’s safety and measure how much of the drug is released and the properties of the ring after use, will be analyzed.

Other drugs could potentially be integrated into the ring, such as contraceptives or antiviral drugs to prevent other sexually transmitted infections – a feature that could increase user rates, said Kiser, who joined Northwestern University from the University of Utah, where the research was conducted.

The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Antifungal foot cream to cure HIV

September 26, 2013 By Janet Vasquez Leave a Comment

Making another major advancement in the treatment of deadly HIV/AIDS, scientists have discovered that a common drug used to treat nail fungus in feet may permanently eradicate the deadly HIV from the body.

According to the researchers, topical anti-fungal drug Ciclopirox causes HIV-infected cells by jamming up the cells’ powerhouse – the mitochondria.

Unlike current anti-HIV drugs, Ciclopirox completely eradicates infectious HIV from cell cultures, with no rebound of virus when the drug is stopped, according to researchers at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.

Notably, the treatment of HIV patients advanced with the advent of combination anti-retroviral drugs. Although these drugs help in keeping HIV at bay, the patients are required to take them for the lifetime as they fail to eliminate the infection completely.

Scientists say, the perseverance of HIV is partially due to the ability of the virus to disable the cell’s altruistic suicide pathway, which is normally activated when a cell becomes infected or damaged.

Study

A team of researchers led by Michael Mathews and Hartmut Hanauske-Abel, previously showed that Ciclopirox, commonly used by dermatologists and gynaecologists to treat fungal infections, inhibits the expression of HIV genes in culture.

Healthy, uninfected cells examined during this study were spared. And remarkably, the virus did not bounce back when Ciclopirox was removed, researchers said.

The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Fight against HIV-AIDS gaining momentum, says United Nations

September 23, 2013 By Janet Vasquez Leave a Comment

In a positive development, the United Nations has said that the global rate of HIV infection and the number of AIDS-related deaths have been dramatically reduced in the light of advanced treatment and improvement in its reach to the people.

In its annual report released on Monday, UNAIDS said, “HIV which now infects around 35.3 million people worldwide, the death rate from AIDS and HIV infection were falling, while the number of people getting treatment is going up.”

“Not only can we meet the 2015 target of 15 million people on HIV treatment, we must also go beyond and have the vision and commitment to ensure no one is left behind,” Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS’ executive director, said in a statement with Monday’s report.

According to the report, AIDS-related deaths in 2012 fell to 1.6 million, down from 1.7 million in 2011 and a peak of 2.3 million in 2005. Interestingly, the number of people newly infected with the disease dropped to 2.3 million in 2012 down from 2.5 million in 2011.

At the end of 2012, some 9.7 million people in poorer and middle-income countries had access to AIDS drugs. The report says it is an increase of nearly 20 percent in a year.

Since 2001, there has been a 52 percent drop in annual new HIV infections among children and a 33 percent reduction in newly infected adults and children combined.

Despite a flattening in donor funding for HIV, which has remained near 2008 levels, individual countries’ domestic spending on the epidemic has increased, accounting for 53 percent of global HIV resources in 2012, the UNAIDS report says. According to the United Nations, total funding for the global fight against HIV and AIDS in 2012 was USD 18.9 billion. Unfortunately, the figures are about USD3 billion to USD5 billion short of the estimated USD 22 billion to USD 24 billion needed annually by 2015.

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) that leads to fatal disease AIDS can be transmitted via blood, breast milk and by semen during sex, but can be kept in check with cocktails of drugs known as antiretroviral treatment or therapy.

AIDS no more to remain epidemic by 2030: UN official

September 20, 2013 By Janet Vasquez Leave a Comment

After the scientists claimed to have discovered an AIDS vaccine that may completely clear the traces of HIV viruses from the body, here is another piece of good news for the world.

A top UN official has said the global AIDS epidemic could be over by 2030 amidst remarkable progress in treatment and control of the disease.

“I think that 2030 is a viable target to say that we have reached the end of the epidemic,” said Luis Loures, a deputy executive director of UNAIDS, the UN agency leading the fight against HIV/AIDS.

“HIV will continue existing as a case but not at the epidemic level we have today,” he added.

About 3 million new HIV infections are reported each year and the disease is responsible for killing 1.7 million people a year.

“We can get to the end of the epidemic because we have treatments and ways to control the infection,” said Loures while adding, “We are making progress, without a doubt.”

The treatment in the field has witnessed a significant improvement with cheaper and better medical facilities. Two decades ago the average annual cost of treatment per person with HIV was USD 19,000 while today it is USD 150 thanks to generic drugs.

Moreover, people with HIV are getting treatment earlier, which retards the disease’s development.

According to UNAIDS, the annual incidence of new infections has fallen 20 percent over the past decade, and in 25 countries, including 13 in sub-Saharan Africa, it has fallen by 50 percent.

Scientists identify new gene that may treat HIV

September 19, 2013 By Janet Vasquez Leave a Comment

In a major breakthrough, scientists have identified a new gene that may have the ability to prevent HIV from spreading after the virus enters the body.

The study led by King’s College London is the first to identify a role for the human MX2 gene in inhibiting Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that leads to fatal disease AIDS.

According to the researchers, this gene could be a new target for effective, less toxic treatments where the body’s own natural defence system is mobilized against the deadly virus.

Study

The scientists carried out experiments on human cells after introducing the HIV to two different cell lines and observed the effects.

In one cell line the MX2 gene was introduced while in another it was absent. In the cells where the MX2 gene was expressed, the virus was not able to replicate and new viruses were not produced. The scientists observed that in the cells where MX2 was silenced, the virus replicated and spread.

“This is an extremely exciting finding which advances our understanding of how HIV virus interacts with the immune system and opens up opportunities to develop new therapies to treat the disease. Until now we knew very little about the MX2 gene, but now we recognize both its potent anti-viral function and a key point of vulnerability in the life cycle of HIV,” Professor Mike Malim at the Department of Infectious Diseases, King’s College London said.

The study was published in journal Nature.

Scientists develop AIDS vaccine that may completely cure HIV

September 12, 2013 By Janet Vasquez Leave a Comment

In a discovery that could act as pathbreaking in the field of science, researchers have claimed to have developed an AIDS vaccine that can completely clear the traces of HIV viruses from the body.

“A promising new AIDS vaccine may be able to completely eradicate the deadly HIV from the body,” scientists have claimed.

The HIV/AIDS vaccine candidate that has been developed at Oregon Health & Science University holds the capacity to effectively remove all traces of an AIDS-causing virus from non-human primates, researchers said.

Study

The scientists carried study on monkeys. The promising vaccine is being tested through the use of a non-human primate form of HIV, called simian immunodeficiency virus, or SIV, which causes AIDS in monkeys.

The findings suggested that the vaccine would be successful in curing HIV in humans also.

Scientists are hopeful of testing an HIV-form of the vaccine candidate in humans.

“To date, HIV infection has only been cured in a very small number of highly-publicized but unusual clinical cases in which HIV-infected individuals were treated with anti-viral medicines very early after the onset of infection or received a stem cell transplant to combat cancer,” said Louis Picker, associate director of the OHSU Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute.

“This latest research suggests that certain immune responses elicited by a new vaccine may also have the ability to completely remove HIV from the body,” said Picker.

The study was published in the journal Nature.

Cured of HIV?

HIV Vaccine Hope

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