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25 FEBRUARY 2022 VOLUME 24 ISSUE 8

Media Coverage

  • Despite Progress, HIV Remains Disproportionately Black in Georgia

    Fred Bryant has a recurring problem these days at festivals and community meetings. Whenever he sets up a table for HIV and AIDS awareness at functions targeting the Black community for health intervention and treatment group Aniz, there are always a couple of people who stop by in hopes of getting a COVID-19 test. As soon as they discover their mistake, they panic.

    February 23, 2022
    General
    The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

  • Increase Funding or Abandon Hope of Ending Malaria, TB and AIDS, UK Warned

    Britain is being urged to pledge billions of dollars to get the fight against malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS “back on track” after efforts were ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic. The UK has historically been one of the main donors to the Global Fund, an international financing organisation aimed at ending the three deadly epidemics by 2030. Now it is warning that, unless donors make an unprecedented total funding pledge of $18bn (£13.25bn) this year, that goal will be missed.

    February 23, 2022
    General
    The Guardian

  • Why Did an HIV Vaccine Fail in the Imbokodo Trial?

    An experimental vaccine regimen tested in a large trial in southern Africa did not protect young women from acquiring HIV, adding to a long string of HIV vaccine disappointments, Dr Glenda Gray of the South African Medical Research Council said last week at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2022).

    February 23, 2022
    HIV Vaccine
    aidsmap

  • FDA Grants the First Condom Approval for Anal Sex

    For the first time, US regulators have officially authorized a condom to be used for anal sex, not just vaginal sex. The decision, announced by the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday, has long been sought by sexual health experts, who said it could encourage more people who engage in anal sex to use condoms to protect themselves against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. The risk of sexually transmitted diseases is “significantly higher” during anal sex than vaginal sex, an FDA official said Wednesday.

    February 23, 2022
    Male and Female Condoms
    New York Times

  • Start Planning HIV Prevention Injection Rollout, Experts Say

    There is no time to waste in planning the South African rollout of cabotegravir (CAB LA), the long-lasting antiretroviral injection approved for use in the United States in December 2021, say local health experts. The jab, which could transform HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) regimes from a daily oral pill to injections administered every two months, is currently under review by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA). PrEP refers to people who are not living with HIV taking antiretroviral medicine to prevent HIV infection.

    February 22, 2022
    PrEP
    Spotlight

  • Injected PrEP: Breakthrough Cases Could Have Been Detected Sooner

    In the rare cases where people acquire HIV despite taking PrEP (regular medication to prevent HIV infection) consistently and correctly, the medication can suppress replication of the virus and delay the production of antibodies. This makes these breakthrough infections hard to detect, especially with standard antibody tests. In the case of injected PrEP, the result of delayed diagnosis can be the development of mutations resistant to integrase inhibitors, potentially limiting future treatment options.

    February 22, 2022
    PrEP
    aidsmap

  • South Africa Must Urgently Start Planning Roll-Out of HIV-Prevention Injection, Say Experts

    There is no time to waste in planning the South African rollout of cabotegravir (CAB LA), the long-lasting antiretroviral injection approved for use in the United States in December 2021, say local health experts. The jab, which could transform HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) regimes from a daily oral pill to injections administered every two months, is currently under review by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA). PrEP refers to people who are not living with HIV taking antiretroviral medicine to prevent HIV infection.

    February 22, 2022
    PrEP
    Daily Maverick

  • Progress in HIV/AIDS Cure: NY Woman Is Free of HIV for 4 Years

    A New York City woman has been cured of HIV. Her doctors at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital made the announcement last week. We need to be careful - this is not the first time a cure has been announced. In at least two other instances, the patient relapsed.

    February 21, 2022
    Cure
    NPR

  • Paul Farmer, Pioneer of Global Health, Dies at 62

    Paul Farmer, a physician, anthropologist and humanitarian who gained global acclaim for his work delivering high-quality health care to some of the world’s poorest people, died on Monday on the grounds of a hospital and university he had helped establish in Butaro, Rwanda. He was 62.

    February 21, 2022
    General
    New York Times

  • The AIDS Crisis Never Ended — And COVID May Have Even Made It Worse

    The report out of Denver earlier this month, that an unnamed woman being treated for leukemia may have become the third person ever to be cured of AIDS, made headlines around the globe. More than four decades into a crisis that has killed nearly 80 million people, the news offered real hope of an end to AIDS on the horizon. It also served as a potent reminder, two years into a different deadly epidemic, that this earlier one never went away.

    February 21, 2022
    STI Vaccines, HIV Vaccine, Combination Prevention, Male and Female Condoms, Cure, General, Hormonal Contraceptives and HIV, HPV Vaccines, Lubricant
    Salon

  • HIV: Dual Therapy With Twice-Yearly Injections on the Horizon

    One year into treatment with an every-6-month dose of the investigational drug lenacapavir (LEN, Gilead Sciences) in a dual-treatment combination, 88 percent of treatment-naive people living with HIV had undetectable viral loads. The findings, presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) 2022 Annual Meeting, also showed the drug was well tolerated, with 2 of 182 people developing drug-resistant mutations to lenacapavir and one person developing a nodule at the injection site.

    February 18, 2022
    Treatment
    Medscape

  • Fact Check-No Evidence Some COVID-19 Vaccines Increase Risk of HIV Infection

    Contrary to claims online, there is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines increase risk of HIV infection. To back up their claims, social media users are pointing to a letter sent to medical journal The Lancet in 2020. The correspondence has been shared without context, however. Researchers expressed concerns about certain COVID-19 vaccines being developed with an Ad5 vector —which are not used in the United States — but so far there is no data to show such vaccines carry any increased risk of HIV infection.

    February 18, 2022
    General
    Reuters

  • Apretude and Oral PrEP Could Decrease New HIV Diagnoses by up to Half

    If the new long-acting injectable HIV prevention drug Apretude (cabotegravir/rilpivirine) increases overall pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use by 25 percent, it could lower the rate of new diagnoses among men who have sex with men by up to half by 2030, according to data presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections 2022 (CROI 2022)

    February 18, 2022
    PrEP
    POZ

  • HIV Self-Tests Reached High-Risk Populations

    Direct-to-consumer HIV self-testing helped to reach underserved populations in areas at high risk for HIV infection, a researcher said. In an ordering portal set up by the CDC, over 56,000 people placed an order for HIV self-tests, and according to a follow-up survey, about a quarter (26 percent) of those had never been tested for HIV, reported Pollyanna Chavez, PhD, of the CDC. Moreover, a third of those who ordered a self-test and responded to the survey said they hadn't been tested for HIV in over a year.

    February 18, 2022
    General
    Medpage Today

  • Virtual Approaches Boost HIV Self-Testing in India

    Virtual outreach workers are able to reach key populations in India to promote HIV testing, either with self-testing or at bricks and mortar facilities, researchers reported to the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2022) this week. As HIV testing is the key entry point to HIV care cascade, it is worrisome that in India one in four people living with HIV do not know their HIV status. The COVID-19 pandemic has further negatively impacted the pace of HIV testing.

    February 18, 2022
    General
    aidsmap

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