14 JANUARY 2022 VOLUME 24 ISSUE 2

Bulawayo has increased to 80 percent, the coverage of people on the lifesaving antiretroviral therapy (ART) including pregnant women who could have easily transmitted HIV to their new born babies.

The US is facing a national blood crisis, the "worst blood shortage in over a decade," the American Red Cross warns. Despite this urgent need for donations, people who have sex with gay or bisexual men are still facing restrictions on their ability to give blood.

On Tuesday, New Jersey became the most recent state to move to decriminalize the transmission of HIV/AIDS. The state’s legislature this week passed S-3707, a bill that would repeal current statutes that criminalize acts of sexual penetration if someone knows they’re infected with a venereal disease, HIV, or AIDs.

France is to allow LGBT citizens to donate blood without "discriminatory" conditions, the country's health ministry has announced. From 16 March, blood donation will be open to all French citizens regardless of their sexual orientation, health minister Olivier Véran said. "We are putting an end to an inequality that was no longer justified," Véran said on Twitter.

The AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) recently announced the commencement of A5355, a clinical trial of a novel cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine for adults living with both HIV and CMV

Matt Ebert Liam, an alumnus of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) movement, has been fighting against AIDS and stigma for nearly 35 years. Much of his time has been devoted to standing against abusive power structures that barred his friends and loved ones in arms from accessing the treatment and dignity that they deserved.

Researchers have identified four intervention mechanisms that may have contributed to increased viral suppression rates with community-based delivery of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in sub-Saharan Africa. The community programme was flexible to patients’ needs, integrated multiple components into a single interaction with a healthcare provider, allowed for longer interactions with the provider, and reduced travel time to clinical services.

In order to reach established goals in reducing HIV infection in the US, access to HIV services must be improved for men who have sex with men (MSM) but especially Black, Hispanic/Latino and younger MSM, according to a recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

By studying gene expression profiles, we demonstrated that latently HIV-1-infected T cells have a de-differentiated T cell phenotype. Software-based data integration allowed for the identification of drug targets that would re-differentiate viral host cells and, in extension, destabilize latent HIV-1 infection events. The importance of the presented data lies within the clear demonstration that HIV-1 latency is a host cell phenomenon. As such, therapeutic strategies must first restore proper host cell functionality to accomplish efficient HIV-1 reactivation.

Although a wide variety of topical microbicides provide promising in vitro and in vivo efficacy, most of them failed to prevent sexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in human clinical trials. In vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo models must be optimized, considering the knowledge acquired from unsuccessful and successful clinical trials to improve the current gaps and the preclinical development protocols. To date, dendrimers are the only nanotool that has advanced to human clinical trials as topical microbicides to prevent HIV-1 transmission.

One of the next frontiers in HIV research is focused on finding a cure. A new priority includes people with HIV (PWH) with non-AIDS terminal illnesses who are willing to donate their bodies at the end-of-life (EOL) to advance the search towards an HIV cure. We endeavored to understand perceptions of this research and to identify ethical and practical considerations relevant to implementing it.

HIV is difficult to eradicate due to the persistence of a long-lived reservoir of latently infected cells. Previous studies have shown that natural killer cells are important to inhibiting HIV infection, but it is unclear whether the administration of natural killer cells can reduce rebound viremia when anti-retroviral therapy is discontinued. Here we show the administration of allogeneic human peripheral blood natural killer cells delays viral rebound following interruption of anti-retroviral therapy in humanized mice infected with HIV-1.

This study revealed that not only individual level factors but also community level factors determine the status of HIV voluntary counseling and testing. Hence, strengthening both individual and community based interventions are crucial to increase the women HIV counseling and testing practice in the country.

HIV remission trials often require temporary stopping of antiretroviral therapy (ART)—an approach called analytic treatment interruption (ATI). Trial designs resulting in viremia raise risks for participants and sexual partners. We conducted a survey on attitudes about remission trials, comparing ART resumption criteria (lower-risk “time to rebound” and higher-risk “sustained viremia”) among participants from an acute HIV cohort in Thailand. Analyses included Wilcoxon-Ranks and multivariate logistic analysis.

A considerable proportion of people who inject drugs are unstably housed. Although unstable housing is associated with HIV and HCV infection among people who inject drugs, its contribution to transmission is unknown. We estimated the global and national proportions of incident HIV and HCV infections among people who inject drugs attributed to housing instability from 2020 to 2029.

In 2014, UNAIDS put forth an ambitious target known as 90–90–90, the aims of which included that, by 2020, 90 of percent all people living with HIV should know their HIV status, 90 percent of all people with diagnosed HIV should be receiving sustained ART, and 90 percent of all people receiving ART should have viral suppression.

The US HIV epidemic has become a public health issue that increasingly affects men who have sex with men (MSM), including those residing in nonurban areas. Increasing access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in nonurban areas will prevent HIV acquisition and could address the growing HIV epidemic. No studies have quantified the associations between PrEP access and PrEP use among nonurban MSM.

To explore the motivating factors that encourage female sex workers to take oral PrEP, despite the challenges that come with adherence. The 39 participants in this study consisted of female sex workers, peer educators, a counselor, and a researcher. Participants took PrEP as an expression of self-love. Some participants described PrEP as empowering because they could independently prevent HIV. They were also motivated by parenting, hope and future aspirations.

Antiretroviral post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is recommended to prevent HIV infection after a high risk exposure, but current regimens have presented challenges in tolerability, regimen completion, and potential drug-drug interactions. Because co-formulatedbictegravir, emtricitabine, and tenofovir alafenamide (BIC/FTC/TAF) is effective for HIV treatment, it was evaluated for use for PEP.

Since its discovery 35 years ago, there have been no therapeutic interventions shown to enable full HIV-1 remission. Combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) has achieved the sustained control of HIV-1 replication, however, the life-long treatment does not eradicate long-lived latently infected reservoirs and can result in multiple side effects including the development of multidrug-resistant escape mutants.

Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs), known to mediate immune control of HIV-1 infection, only develop in a small subset of HIV-1 infected individuals. Despite being traditionally associated with patients with high viral loads, bNAbs have also been observed in therapy naïve HIV-1+ patients naturally controlling virus replication [Virus Controllers (VCs)].