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24 FEBRUARY 2023 VOLUME 25 ISSUE 8

Media Coverage

  • Experts Raise Concern Over Low Uptake of HPV Vaccine

    When Julius Ng'etich saw the devastating effects of cancer on one of his family members, he vowed to do everything in his power to stop anyone else in his family from going through the same. “The pain I saw her going through is an experience I do not wish for anyone, much less my daughter,” he says.

    February 23, 2023
    HPV Vaccines
    Standard Media

  • Good News for Women and PrEP: Quarterly Dosing May Work

    When it comes to HIV in heterosexuals, women are often at a disadvantage to men. Globally, they are more likely to have HIV, and to acquire it at a younger age; biologically and socially they are more vulnerable; and biomedical prevention studies have often produced poorer results, as has already been seen at the 30th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2023) in Seattle this week.

    February 23, 2023
    PrEP
    aidsmap

  • Elton John Advocates for Global AIDS Relief Program That Has Saved Millions of Lives: ‘My Dying Wish Is To Have This Disease Eliminated by 2030’

    Senators Lindsey Graham and Chris Coons said they are confident that funding for the US’s global AIDS program will be extended with the aim of eliminating the disease by 2030. The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or Pepfar, was initiated in 2003 by then President George W. Bush. It has saved 25 million lives and allowed 5.5 million children to be born free of the HIV virus that causes AIDS, John Nkengasong, the head of Pepfar, said at a press conference in Johannesburg. Life expectancy has improved by 12 to 15 years in some African nations, he said.

    February 23, 2023
    General
    aidsmap

  • After Long Delay, Moderna Pays NIH for COVID-19 Vaccine Technique

    As Moderna racked up tens of billions of dollars in sales of its coronavirus vaccine, the company held off on paying for the rights to a chemical technique that scientists said it had borrowed from government-funded research and used in its wildly successful shot. But Moderna and the government have now reached an agreement. The company said on Thursday that it had made a $400 million payment for the technique that will be shared by the National Institutes of Health and two American universities where the method was invented.

    February 23, 2023
    General
    New York Times

  • VIDEO: Jeanne Marrazzo, MD, MPH, on PrEP Adherence in Cisgender Women

    In this video, Jeanne M. Marrazzo, MD, MPH, director of the division of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, talks about PrEP adherence and efficacy in cisgender women. An analysis of data from more than 6,000 women collected over nearly a decade in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia found that for most, adherence declined over time.

    February 22, 2023
    PrEP
    Healio

  • African Nations Determined to End AIDS: Here's How They'll Do It

    African leaders recently met for the 36th Session of the African Union, where they committed to a set of actions for boosting progress toward ending AIDS on the continent. The event, co-hosted by the African Union, NEPAD, UNAIDS and PEPFAR, saw heads of state and government declare commitments of personal responsibility to provide active leadership in the AIDS response.

    February 22, 2023
    General
    Plus Magazine

  • Transcript: The Quest for an HIV Vaccine

    MS. BAIRD: Good morning and welcome. I’m Kathy Baird. I’m the chief communications officer here at The Post, and it is really great to have you all with us today here in person. It has been four decades since the first cases of HIV were reported. In that time, millions of people have died from AIDS worldwide. Today, the race is on to use the scientific advances made during COVID-19, the COVID-19 pandemic, to address this ongoing health crisis. We are joined today on our stage by several individuals who have dedicated their careers to finding ways to fight HIV and its complications.

    February 22, 2023
    HIV Vaccine
    Washington Post

  • Meningococcal Vaccine Shows Benefit in STI Prevention

    The latest study to show high efficacy of doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (Doxy PEP) in preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among men who have sex with men (MSM) adds a new twist, showing — for the first time — reductions in gonorrhea among those receiving the meningococcal B vaccine.

    February 22, 2023
    STI Vaccines
    Medscape

  • Prescribing doxyPEP After STI Diagnosis Is More Efficient Than Targeting Specific Groups of People

    Prescribing doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP) to gay and bisexual men and transgender women after a sexually transmitted infection (STI) diagnosis instead of focusing on specific groups “at higher risk” would reduce STI spread while minimising the number of people needing to take the antibiotic, according to a study presented at the 30th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2023) in Seattle yesterday.

    February 22, 2023
    aidsmap

  • Hepatitis B Prevention: We Have the Vaccines, But Not the Implementation

    A time-honored tradition, the case-based liver workshop is a preconference session that takes place before CROI officially begins. H. Nina Kim, MD, MSc, a professor and hepatologist with the University of Washington, was one of the presenters, and gave a talk entitled “HBV Prevention: Newer Vaccines and the Boundaries of HBV Protection.”

    February 22, 2023
    STI Vaccines
    Contagion Live

  • Dapivirine Vaginal Ring Safe To Use in Third Trimester of Pregnancy and During Breastfeeding

    Women can safely use the dapivirine vaginal ring for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in the third trimester of pregnancy and during breastfeeding, according to new studies presented this week at the 30th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2023). The research is also the latest to reaffirm the safety of daily oral PrEP in pregnancy.

    February 21, 2023
    PrEP
    aidsmap

  • No Marked Increase in Gonorrhoea Resistance in doxyPEP Study

    Using the antibiotic doxycycline to prevent the bacterial STIs gonorrhoea, chlamydia and syphilis (‘doxyPEP’) has sparked fears that it may lead to widespread drug resistance, especially in the gonorrhoea bacterium.

    February 21, 2023
    STI Vaccines
    aidsmap

  • How Three Texas Clinics Lost Nearly $20M in PrEP Funds to Prevent HIV

    We can’t say we weren’t warned. In summer 2021, it was reported that in January 2022, drugmaker Gilead Sciences would end a reimbursement program that helps fund prevention services at numerous HIV clinics. HIV advocates decried the move, noting that it would diminish uninsured clients’ access to pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, the daily pills and long-acting injections that prevent HIV. Gilead Sciences, for its part, has said the decision to change its reimbursement policy was a long time coming and arrived at after some clinics misused the funding.

    February 21, 2023
    PrEP
    POZ Magazine

  • Deadlier Mpox Infections Discovered In People With Advanced HIV

    Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, can produce a more severe and more deadly form of disease in people living with advanced HIV infections, researchers wrote in the Lancet medical journal on Tuesday, an important finding as experts and officials work to keep cases down as the global outbreak subsides.

    February 21, 2023
    General
    Forbes

  • HIV Patient Cured After Bone Marrow Transplant in Rare Case, Research Shows

    A man in Germany who had been diagnosed with HIV has been declared free of the virus after receiving HIV-resistant stem cells through a bone marrow transplant intended to treat leukemia. According to research published in the journal Nature Medicine on Monday, the man was monitored for more than nine years after the 2013 transplant, and there is now “strong evidence” that he has been cured.

    February 21, 2023
    Cure
    Washington Post

  • The Next Phase of the Global HIV/AIDs Fight

    The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief — the biggest effort by one nation to address a particular disease — is hitting a milestone anniversary. But advocates worry the US may take its foot off the gas. Why it matters: 20 years after then-President George W. Bush launched PEPFAR in his 2003 State of the Union address, the $7 billion-a-year program is up for reauthorization in Congress.

    February 21, 2023
    General
    Axios

  • Doxycycline PEP After Sex Appears Ineffective for Cisgender Women

    Doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP), which was found to be highly effective at preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among gay men and transgender women, did not protect young cisgender women in Africa, researchers reported on Monday at the 30th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2023) in Seattle.

    February 21, 2023
    STI Vaccines
    aidsmap

  • Sharing Anti-HIV Medication Is Common in Rural Uganda

    Nearly one in ten people on antiretroviral treatment in rural Uganda report having shared medication, according to a population-based study presented at the 30th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2023) in Seattle. The research is the first population-based study to document the phenomenon in Africa and reveals new insights into whether this undermines or supports viral suppression.

    February 21, 2023
    PrEP
    aidsmap

  • Vaccine Halves Gonorrhea Rate in French Study

    A vaccine against gonorrhoea halved the rate of repeated infections in gay and bisexual men, according to a study presented today by the French research agency ANRS at the 30th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2023) in Seattle. “This is the first vaccine that shows some level of efficacy against a bacterial sexually transmitted infection,” principal investigator Professor Jean-Michel Molina of the University of Paris told aidsmap.

    February 20, 2023
    STI Vaccines
    aidsmap

  • Black People Have Highest Rate of STIs in Britain. Not Enough Is Being Done To Change That.

    Black people have the highest rate of sexually transmitted infections in Britain and officials are not doing enough to address the issue, sexual health experts have warned. Black Britons have “disproportionally high rates” of various STI diagnoses compared to white Britons, with those of Black Caribbean heritage specifically having the highest rates for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, herpes and trichomoniasis.

    February 20, 2023
    General
    Independent

  • Health Equity and the Impact on Infectious Disease

    Health equity has been a concept familiar in the public health sector for many years. As the COVID-19 pandemic spread, the impacts on certain groups were made evident and acknowledged on a broader scale. Now health equity is part of daily conversations in the acute care world and in particular regarding infectious disease. Health equity and disparities play a role in emerging infectious diseases and disease transmission, and until those roles are better understood and incorporated into prevention efforts, health outcomes for those affected will be at risk.

    February 20, 2023
    General
    Contagion Live

  • Doxycycline Taken After Sex Does Not Prevent Bacterial STIs Among Cisgender Women

    Researchers from the University of Washington (UW), Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI) announced results at CROI from a clinical trial demonstrating that doxycycline taken after sex does not prevent bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) – chlamydia or gonorrhea – among cisgender women. The dPEP Kenya Trial was conducted in Kisumu, Kenya, to evaluate the effectiveness of doxycycline postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) to prevent bacterial STIs.

    February 20, 2023
    STI Vaccines
    News Medical

  • Yvette Raphael: Time to Address ‘Unfinished Work’ and Meet Women’s Needs

    Despite the strides made in HIV, there is still much work to be done, Yvette Raphael, the co-founder of Advocacy for Prevention of HIV and AIDS in South Africa, told HIV leaders, clinicians and researchers at the opening session of CROI 2023, held in Seattle. Ms. Raphael outlined the “years of struggle for Black women, for ourselves, our daughters, our nieces, our mothers to get what we need to keep our bodies safe and healthy. I’m talking about HIV prevention and the unfinished work of meeting women’s needs.” Ms. Raphael said women “have been asking for [this] for frankly too long.”

    February 20, 2023
    General
    Infectious Disease Special Edition

  • “If You Don’t Change the Subject, Your Career Will End": Overcoming Obstacles to Cure Hepatitis B

    The 30th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2023) is officially underway, and day 2 began with an opening plenary session. Anna Suk-Fong Lok, MD, a hepatologist and professor at the University of Michigan Medicine’s Department of Internal Medicine, gave a talk entitled “The Path to Hepatitis B Cure.”

    February 20, 2023
    General
    Contagion Live

  • Montreal Slammed by Community Organizations Over ‘Inaction’ on HIV/AIDS

    Organizations dedicated to fighting HIV/AIDS are slamming the city of Montreal and cutting ties with the Montréal sans sida initiative over its "increasing disengagement" and failure to sign the latest Paris Declaration on HIV. In 2017, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante signed onto the declaration, which had three targets to eliminate HIV/AIDS transmission by 2030. The Montréal sans sida alliance was formed the following year to tackle an action plan in tandem with public health.

    February 19, 2023
    General
    CBC

  • To Patients, Herpes Can Be Devastating. To Many Doctors, It’s Not a Priority.

    When Lauren went to her doctors with stinging clusters of sores on her genitals, she assumed the pain was from a urinary tract infection. But at the OB-GYN, her doctor swabbed the bumps and told her that the rash was herpes. “No,” she remembered responding. “It’s not.” At the time, Lauren, who asked that her last name be withheld in order to talk about personal health issues, was a 19-year-old college student. She was in a two-year monogamous relationship with her second-ever sexual partner — a guy who occasionally dealt with an errant blister on his lip.

    February 18, 2023
    General
    New York Times

  • We Have the Resources: Let’s Finish the Job of Ending AIDS

    In his second State of the Union address, President Joe Biden asked Americans to come together in a spirit of collaboration to continue progress toward solving some of the most critical social, political, economic and even medical challenges facing the country and the world. His call to “finish the job” extended to reducing inflation, tackling climate change and codifying access to safe and legal abortion services. In proposing that Americans on both sides of the aisle can also cooperate to end cancer, he invoked one of the most successful US foreign aid initiatives in history.

    February 17, 2023
    General
    The Hill

  • Early Stages of Injectable PrEP Implant Show Promise in Complete Protection Against HIV

    Investigators from the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill have been working with researchers at the CDC to develop an injectable implant that can release HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medication into the body for a longer period of time than daily oral medication. The latest data, published in Nature Communications, show that the formulation can provide up to 6 months of full protection.

    February 17, 2023
    PrEP
    Pharmacy Times

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