AIDSmeds.com - Top Stories

Twice-Daily ARV Treatment Better than Once-Daily for Some
Even though people living with HIV may be more likely to adhere to a Kaletra (lopinavir/ritonavir)-based treatment regimen taken once a day compared with twice a day, those with high pre-treatment viral loads may experience virologic failure faster using Kaletra’s once-daily dosing option, according to a study published in the April 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

March 15, 2010

Chemical in Bananas May Prevent and Treat HIV
A chemical in bananas has been found to inhibit HIV, according to research findings from a University of Michigan Medical School published in the March 19 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry. According to the study authors, this may lead to the development of inexpensive microbicides to prevent HIV transmission and, quite possibly, novel compounds to treat the disease.

March 12, 2010

Sexual Problems More Common Among HIV-Positive Women
Women living with HIV are significantly more likely to experience sexual problems compared with those not living with the virus, according to new results from the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) published online ahead of print by the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS).

March 11, 2010

Replication Capacity: An Additional Measure of HIV Disease Progression?
HIV’s replication capacity (RC), a measurement of the virus’s fitness, may be useful for people living with HIV and their health care providers in figuring out how quickly HIV disease will progress, according to new data published in the April 1 issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS). The study results show that untreated people living with HIV with lower, compared with higher, RC had a slower progression to a CD4 cell count below 350 cells—the widely accepted threshold for starting antiretroviral (ARV) therapy.

March 10, 2010

CDC: New MSM HIV Diagnoses 44 Times That of Other Men
The rate of new HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men is more than 44 times that of other men and more than 40 times that of women, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), presented at the 2010 National STD Prevention Conference in Atlanta.

March 09, 2010

Treatment Interruptions “Particularly Hazardous” for Those Coinfected With Hep B
Interrupting antiretroviral (ARV) therapy may be “particularly hazardous” for people living with HIV and chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, according to data from the Strategies for the Management of Antiretroviral Therapy (SMART) study published online by the journal AIDS. Increases in HBV viral load and accelerated immune deficiency were documented among coinfected individuals partaking in structured drug holidays in the study.

HIV and the Brain: Part 2

At the 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in San Francisco—David Evans speaks with Scott Letendre, MD, from the University of California in San Diego, about the relationship of HIV levels in the brain versus the blood, and what that might mean for treating HIV.

New Treatments for HIV: Part 1

At the 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in San Francisco—Tim Horn speaks with David Hardy, MD, from Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, about new HIV treatments—including the drug blood level-booster, cobicistat, and the new integrase inhibitor, elvitegravir. Part 1 of a 2-part video.

New Treatments for HIV: Part 2

At the 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in San Francisco—Tim Horn speaks with David Hardy, MD, from Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, about new HIV treatments—including two entry inhibitors: vicriviroc and TBR-652. Part 2 of a 2-part video.

March 08, 2010

Cancer Risks and HIV

At the 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in San Francisco—David Evans speaks with Michael Silverberg, PhD, from the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California, about the latest research on cancer risk in people with HIV, and strategies for reducing the risk.

HIV and the Brain: Part 1

At the 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in San Francisco—David Evans speaks with Ronald Ellis, MD, PhD, from the University of California in San Francisco, about factors that protect the brain from HIV. This is the first of a two part video on HIV and the brain.

HIV Prevention: On the Verge of Success?

At the 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in San Francisco—David Evans speaks with Mitchell Warren, from the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition in New York City, about the state of prevention research, which could be on the verge of new successes with PrEP and test-and-treat strategies.

HIV Treatment in Southern Africa

At the 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in San Francisco—David Evans speaks with Suzanne Ingle, from the University of Bristol in England, about factors affecting the roll out of HIV treatment in Southern Africa.

HIV Can Hide in Bone Marrow, Evade Treatment
HIV can infect bone marrow cells and remain hidden to avoid treatment, according to a new study reported on by The Associated Press. The study, led by Kathleen Collins, MD, of the University of Michigan, is published this week in the journal Nature Medicine.

March 05, 2010

MRSA Rates Six Times Higher in People With HIV
Rates of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) infection—drug-resistant staph infection acquired outside the hospital setting—are significantly higher in the Chicago area among people with HIV than in people who are HIV negative, according to a study published in the April 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

March 04, 2010

Abortion Pill for HIV Doesn’t Pan Out in Study
One of the most intriguing compounds to be studied as an antiretroviral (ARV) is mifepristone, a medication sold in the United States as Mifeprex (also known as RU-486) and used to chemically induce abortions in the early stages of pregnancy. While the scientific rationale behind using mifepristone as an HIV-fighting agent has piqued the interest of researchers for several years, the results of a clinical trial have been published online by the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, indicating that its therapeutic potential for this indication remains unclear.

March 03, 2010

Stopping Tenofovir Doesn’t Always Reverse Kidney Damage
Kidney damage caused by tenofovir (found in Viread, Truvada and Atripla) may not reverse itself after a year of discontinuing the drug, according to new study results published ahead of print on the website for the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS).

March 02, 2010

Normal Life Expectancy With Maintenance of CD4s Above 500
Survival among HIV-positive men who keep their CD4 counts above 500 cells for at least three years is comparable with that of the general population, according to optimistic data from a large European cohort reported on Friday, February 19, at the 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI). More sobering findings were documented among HIV-positive women: mortality rates, even among those responding well to antiretroviral (ARV) therapy, were still lower compared with HIV-negative women.

March 01, 2010

One in Six New HIV Cases Involves Drug-Resistant Virus
About one of every six new HIV cases diagnosed in 2007 involved virus with antiretroviral (ARV) drug-resistance mutations, according to data reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday, February 17, at the 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in San Francisco.

HIV and Bone Health

At the 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in San Francisco, David Evans speaks with Grace McComsey, MD—division chief of Pediatric Infectious Disease and Rheumatology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland—about the causes of bone loss in people living with HIV, and what can be done about it.