11 December 2015 VOLUME 16 ISSUE 50

The UNAIDS programme in Nigeria said it would partner with the Federal Government in domestically sourcing funds and drugs for the control of HIV/AIDS in the country. The Country Director of UNAIDS, Dr Bilali Camara, made this known to State House correspondents after paying a courtesy visit to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

Author, playwright and activist Larry Kramer has changed his mind and now embraces using HIV medication to prevent transmission of the virus. Kramer claimed in 2014: “There’s something to me cowardly about taking Truvada instead of using a condom. You’re taking a drug that is poison to you, and has lessened your energy to fight, to get involved, to do anything"....After Kramer met with other AIDS campaigners and activists from across the generations, Peter Staley of the Treatment Action Group says there is now unity on the issue.

The KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for TB and HIV says guidelines around the use of a drug to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV still need to be established....Professor Thumbi Ndung’u says questions remain around access to and use of the drug. ''The next step is going to be for the government to come up with strict guidelines about how this drug should be used and...rolled out in the general population,...he said.

A small number of female sex workers continue to test negative for the infection despite repeated sexual activity and low rates of condom use. However, the reason as to why these women are protected from HIV infection has eluded scientists....The results of the study were published in the November issue of the journal Mucosal Immunology.

Men who have sex with men reporting feelings of vengeance concerning their HIV infection may be less likely to engage in safe sexual behavior, according to data presented at the CDC’s National HIV Prevention Conference....[The researchers] found moderate feelings of vengefulness were associated with increased reports of unprotected anal sex, unprotected insertive sex and unprotected receptive sex, and also affected attitudes toward status disclosure.

Community organisations, activists, and researchers last night came together to sign a historic accord on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in Melbourne. The accord outlined a number of shared principles around the HIV prevention tool in areas such as education, stigma, and approval in Australia.

CytoDyn Inc., a biotechnology company focused on development of new therapies for combating HIV infection, today announced that 11 HIV-1 patients receiving PRO 140 monotherapy in an extension study have now successfully reached one year of maximal virologic suppression. These patients substituted their daily Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) regimen with weekly subcutaneous injections of PRO 140....for a period ranging from 12 to 15 months to date.

Use of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis may drive decisions about sex and condom use among serodiscordant couples, according to findings presented here at the CDC’s National HIV Prevention Conference. “In Seattle, we found that men are asking their sex partners about being on PrEP, and that it does appear to somewhat influence sexual decision-making,” Christine Khosropour, MPH, department of epidemiology, University of Washington School of Public Health, told Infectious Disease News.

Despite billions of dollars spent and some of the world’s best brains on the case, there is still no vaccine to protect against HIV. But, as Christopher Kelly reports, recent discoveries have recharged researchers’ efforts.

The number of annual HIV diagnoses declined by 19 percent between 2005 and 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Sunday evening, but diagnoses jumped 6 percent among men who have sex with other men.

Findings from this case suggest that long-term HIV-1 remission is possible in perinatally infected children who receive treatment early, with characteristics similar to those reported in adult HIV post-treatment controllers. Further studies are needed to understand the mechanisms associated with HIV remission and whether early treatment of infected children might favour the conditions needed to achieve HIV control after treatment discontinuation.

Current inattention to older women in the gender-based violence (GBV) field...is increasingly worrisome given the rise in new HIV infections among adults age 50 and older..., with the majority of transmissions stemming from individuals unaware of their HIV-positive status....This paper argues for an approach to public health interventions for GBV and HIV that acknowledges older women...so that health providers and advocates acknowledge and serve older survivors.

[Overall 1666] FSW were enrolled into studies in Swaziland, Burkina Faso and Togo....Twenty-five per cent of FSW had an unmet need for contraception; 9% of FSW employed dual contraception, including highly effective non-barrier methods and consistent condom use. Consistent condom use varied substantially by partner type and was higher with clients than non-paying partners. HIV-positive, undiagnosed FSW were more likely to be trying to conceive as compared to HIV-negative FSW.

The South African National Department of Health sought to improve syndromic management of sexually transmitted infections. Continuing medical education on STIs was delivered at primary healthcare (PHC) clinics using one of three training methods....An average of 31% of clinicians from each PHC attended each module. Quality of STI care was low. Future interventions should address increasing training attendance and computer-based training effectiveness.