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11 November 2016 VOLUME 17 ISSUE 45

Media Coverage

  • Who should direct WHO?

    Leadership in this role is about conceiving and articulating a vision, staying faithful to that vision in the face of undue influence, and effectively engaging with not only governments, but with all stakeholders to gain their support and enable the vision to be realized.

    November 11, 2016
    Science

  • The new reality

    President-elect Donald Trump touched on various global health issues and related topics during his campaign. Malaka Gharib, of NPR Goats and Soda blog, sought out his comments and provides a handy distillation of the Trump view. A few highlights....In a question about PEPFAR, he dodged specific commitments and then mentioned AIDS and Alzheimer’s and said “we are going to lead the way".

    November 10, 2016
    Global Health Now

  • New technology uses USB stick to monitor HIV in bloodstream

    The device, created by scientists at Imperial College London and DNA Electronics, uses a drop of blood to detect HIV, and then creates an electrical signal that can be read by a computer, laptop or handheld device. The disposable test could be used for HIV patients to monitor their own treatment....New research, published in Scientific Reports, shows the device is not only very accurate, but can produce a result in under 30 minutes.

    November 10, 2016
    Medical Net

  • Young lives

    Heena Brahmbhatt and Avy Violari...[have] spent years investigating HIV prevention and treatment for mothers and newborns, but increasingly they’re focusing on adolescents. [Brahmbhat] says....adolescents require a holistic approach. Part of the reason is neurobiological. There’s a growing consensus that the portion of the brain responsible for risk-benefit analysis doesn’t mature until one’s early 20s. “Adolescents are very aware of the risks,” she says. “They just tend to overestimate the rewards.”

    November 10, 2016
    Public Health

  • New therapeutic vaccine approach holds promise for HIV remission

    A new study has demonstrated that combining an experimental vaccine with an innate immune stimulant may help lead to viral remission in people living with HIV. In animal trials, the combination decreased levels of viral DNA in peripheral blood and lymph nodes, and improved viral suppression and delayed viral rebound following discontinuation of ART.

    November 9, 2016
    HIV Vaccine
    Science Daily

  • New promise for immunotherapy as HIV treatment

    Immunotherapy has revolutionized treatment options in oncology, neurology, and many infectious diseases and now there is fresh hope that the same method could be used to treat or even functionally cure HIV, according to related studies from the University of Pennsylvania, University of Alabama, and National Institutes of Health...published online in the New England Journal of Medicine.

    November 9, 2016
    Science Daily

  • Under Donald Trump’s foreign policy, Africa will fall off the map

    Glimpses at Trump’s broader foreign policy suggest he’ll favor a mix of aggression and isolationism over increased global cooperation, and is very unlikely to be a champion of humanitarian aid....Campaign rhetoric (and tweetstorms) aside, actual reductions in foreign aid could have a major impact, particularly in Africa.

    November 9, 2016
    Quartz

  • First month after infection is key period to control drug-related HIV spread, research reveals

    Data from the mid-1990s AIDS epidemic in Russia and Ukraine shows that the first month after infection is the key period to control the spread of the virus in drug-using populations, according to a new study by researchers at Oxford University. Crucially, needle exchange programmes and other 'harm reduction' approaches are the only measures that can target transmissions that happen within the first month.

    November 9, 2016
    Medical News

  • What the HIV/AIDS community is saying about the 2016 election results

    [Here] we compile a list of comments and press releases from HIV advocates and AIDS service organizations.

    November 9, 2016
    POZ

  • Indicators measure progress towards providing family planning services at HIV clinics

    A new manual, just published by MEASURE Evaluation and funded by USAID, recommends that all USAID missions use additional indicators to track family planning/HIV service delivery and client-focused outcomes. These indicators...will provide information on the scope of the integration program and the outcomes of the integration....Indicators were recommended based on their relative ease and feasibility of collection using routine health information systems.

    November 9, 2016
    Science Speaks

  • Australian law needs a refresher on the science of HIV transmission

    In our consensus statement published this week in the Medical Journal of Australia, we detail the latest evidence on HIV transmission risk and recent advances in HIV prevention and treatment. We propose that legal cases relating to HIV transmission should be considered in light of such evidence, and that alternatives to prosecution such as the public health management approach are often appropriate.

    November 9, 2016
    Daily Bulletin

  • Are condoms needed when viral load is undetectable?

    In the face of extensive research showing that people living with HIV who are on ART with stable undetectable viral load have an extremely low likelihood of transmitting the virus, a majority of participants at IDWeek 2016 thought they should still be advised to use condoms – a proportion that actually increased after a debate that laid out the evidence.

    November 9, 2016
    aidsmap

  • Where do Trump and Clinton stand on foreign aid?

    There is one foreign aid program Trump likes: the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). President George W. Bush established it, and it has strong bipartisan support in Congress. A voter asked whether he would double the number of people receiving HIV/AIDS treatment by 2020, during a rally in New Hampshire last year. “Yes, I believe so strongly in that, and we’re going to lead the way,” responded Trump.

    November 8, 2016
    Humanosphere

  • Review examines impact of school-based interventions in preventing HIV, STIs and pregnancy in adolescents

    Do school-based interventions prevent HIV, sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy? This is the question asked by researchers from the University of York, South African Medical Research Council and Stellenbosch University in a Cochrane review published this week.

    November 8, 2016
    Medical News

  • How is gut health linked to brain inflammation in people with HIV?

    The Campbell Foundation [has] awarded a $77,495 grant to Cristina Granziera, MD, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, who is researching the gut-brain relationship in people living with HIV. Specifically, Granziera and her team hope to determine whether imbalanced gut microbiomes are linked to increased brain inflammation.

    November 8, 2016
    POZ

  • Clinical trials partnership a blessing to Zambia- President Lungu

    President Edgar Lungu described the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) as a blessing and an opportunity for...dialogue and exchange of great ideas among scientists, policy makers, funders, donors and global health advocates....when he officially opened the eighth global forum for the EDCTP in Lusaka yesterday....The President challenged the delegates to ensure that EDCTP becomes a spear-point for research and brings beneficial change in tackling poverty and diseases in Africa.

    November 7, 2016
    Lusaka Times

  • Queensland’s $6 million PrEP trial kicks off

    More than 600 Queenslanders have already expressed interest in joining the state government’s $6 million dollar expanded pre-exposure prophylaxis trial that kicked off today. Minister for Health Cameron Dick...said “Twenty trial sites have been registered....Implementation will be staggered over three months...." The Queensland AIDS Council...will play a crucial role in the project to ensure that PrEP reaches the people who will most benefit from the HIV prevention strategy.

    November 7, 2016
    Star Observer

  • Media: How would Magic Johnson's HIV announcement be handled today?

    Monday, we hit the 25-year marker on the day a press conference was quickly arranged before live TV news cameras....It’s human nature to want to go back to that day and reassess how the news gathering came about, and then compare it to modern technologies...You’d still be overlooking the human element that’s potentially as toxic now as it was naïve back then.

    November 6, 2016
    Orange County Register

  • Researchers to study integration of diabetes, hypertension screening into HIV screening

    Michael Sweat, PhD, Medical University of South Carolina,...is principal investigator for the $3.1M NIH grant to study integration of diabetes and hypertension screening into HIV screening...."HIV and AIDS continue to be a huge problem in Tanzania," said Jessie Mbwambo, MD, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences. "However, we.... believe that integrating diabetes and hypertension care with HIV care we can likely improve health in all these domains much more effectively and at a lower cost."

    November 5, 2016
    Medical Net

  • Panic in northeast as HIV ravages internally displaced persons camps

    About 500 women and girls have HIV in one IDP camp in Northeast Nigeria, a report by Human Rights Watch claims. HRW cites an unnamed...health practitioner as saying those infected with HIV in one IDP [which has 10,000 residents] rose from 200 to 500, with more cases unreported over fear of stigmatisation. The health worker believed that many more women could be infected but were ashamed to go to the clinic and likely to be suffering in silence without treatment.

    November 5, 2016
    Online Nigeria

  • Controversial HIV vaccine strategy gets a second chance

    A two-pronged HIV vaccine strategy that delivered lackluster results in a trial in Thailand 7 years ago will get another chance in South Africa. Last week, researchers injected the first of what they hope will be 5400 healthy men and women between 18 and 35...[with] either a combination of two vaccines or placebo shots. The $130 million study should show once and for all whether the combination...actually works.

    November 4, 2016
    HIV Vaccine
    Science

  • It's time to start thinking about anal sex as a risk factor for HIV in women

    Among the victims of HIV, women have historically been neglected [and]...risk behaviors among women are still poorly understood, especially when it comes to anal sex. At the recent HIV Research for Prevention conference, Jocelyn Elmes, Imperial College London, presented her research on low-income women across 20 U.S. cities. She found that a staggering 38 percent of HIV infections among these women may be due to anal intercourse and...merit further study.

    November 3, 2016
    Body Pro

  • Buyers clubs for cheaper drugs help fight hepatitis and HIV

    Frustrated by the high price of antiviral drugs, thousands of patients from London to Moscow to Sydney are turning to a new wave of online "buyers clubs" to get cheap generic medicines to cure hepatitis C and protect against HIV infection.

    November 3, 2016
    Reuters

  • One of our reporters tried to do CRISPR

    I speak biology fluently, but the molecular complexities of the novel genome-editing tool called CRISPR left me as befuddled as when I peruse descriptions of the inflationary universe. So I decided to test what one investigator told me: CRISPR...may sound intimidating, but it is so simple to use that "any idiot" could do it.

    November 3, 2016
    Science

  • Seven agents, including HIV, added to US list of carcinogens

    Five viruses, which collectively have been linked to more than 20 different types of cancer, are being added to the category of "known to be a human carcinogen"....These include the human immunodeficiency virus type 1...and two herpes viruses, Epstein-Barr virus and Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus. Since there are no vaccines available for these viruses, prevention strategies are even more critical.

    November 2, 2016
    Reuters

  • SA historic clinical trial for HIV vaccine gives hope

    A four-year South African clinical trial resumes this week in what promises to be a possible vaccine to prevent HIV. According to President of the SA Medical Research Council Professor Glenda Gray, the [HCT702] trial...will involve [5400] men and women between 18 to 35...in 15 sites in South Africa....She revealed highly stringent safety measures that have been put in place.

    October 31, 2016
    HIV Vaccine
    702 Live

Published Research

  • Efficacy of human immunodeficiency virus/sexually transmitted infection prevention interventions targeting female entertainment workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

    Despite cited limitations, this review fills an important gap in literature where FEWs are becoming an increasingly high risk group for HIV/STI. Our review highlights the relative dearth of structural interventions as part of the HIV/STI prevention programmes for the FEWs, despite the need. Future HIV/STI prevention programmes for this population should also address bias common to behavioural interventions coupled with objective measurements to increase scientific rigour.

    November 10, 2016
    AIDS and Behavior

  • HIV funding key for sustainable development

    UNAIDS estimates that to achieve the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, $26.2 billion will be needed in 2020—in 2015, an estimated $19 billion was available from all sources....Without ongoing and growing commitment to end AIDS, it will remain a threat to development across the SDG agenda."

    November 10, 2016
    Lancet

  • Ad26/MVA therapeutic vaccination with TLR7 stimulation in SIV-infected rhesus monkeys

    Here we show that Ad26/MVA3,4 therapeutic vaccination with toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) stimulation improves virologic control and delays viral rebound following ART discontinuation in SIV-infected rhesus monkeys that initiated ART during acute infection.

    November 10, 2016
    Antibody Related Research
    Nature

  • Effect of HIV antibody VRC01 on viral rebound after treatment interruption

    VRC01 slightly delayed plasma viral rebound in the trial participants, as compared with historical controls, but it did not maintain viral suppression by week 8….Our results suggest that the prevalence of clinically significant archived resistance to VRC01 may present a considerable challenge in the use of bNAbs as therapeutic agents for HIV infection.

    November 9, 2016
    NEJM

  • Sexual transmission of HIV and the law: an Australian medical consensus statement

    Criminal cases involving human immunodeficiency virus transmission or exposure require that courts correctly comprehend the rapidly evolving science of HIV transmission and the impact of an HIV diagnosis. This consensus statement, written by leading HIV clinicians and scientists, provides current scientific evidence to facilitate just outcomes in Australian criminal cases involving HIV.

    November 7, 2016
    Med J Aust

  • Towards equity in service provision for gay men and other men who have sex with men in repressive contexts

    At the AIDS 2016 Conference in July, the Elton John AIDS Foundation and PEPFAR announced the awardees of the new US$10 million initiative to increase access to HIV services for LGBT individuals and communities in Africa and the Caribbean....Also, the International AIDS Society and EJAF launched a new initiative—Me and My Health Care Provider—to celebrate...providers offering culturally competent HIV and other STI prevention, treatment, and care services for key population patient groups.

    October 25, 2016
    PLoS Med

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