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30 SEPTEMBER 2022 VOLUME 24 ISSUE 39

Media Coverage

  • New Infectious Threats Are Coming. The US Probably Won’t Contain Them

    If it wasn’t clear enough during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become obvious during the monkeypox outbreak: The United States, among the richest, most advanced nations in the world, remains wholly unprepared to combat new pathogens. The coronavirus was a sly, unexpected adversary. Monkeypox was a familiar foe, and tests, vaccines and treatments were already at hand. But the response to both threats sputtered and stumbled at every step.

    September 29, 2022
    General
    The New York Times

  • Should I Still Be Worried About Monkeypox?

    New monkeypox cases are declining in the United States, a trend public health officials and clinicians attribute to vaccination and changes in behavior. Eligible individuals who did not receive the monkeypox vaccine were about 14 times more likely to become infected than those who received a first dose of the two-dose vaccine, according to new early data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — a promising sign CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said provides “a level of cautious optimism that the vaccine is working as intended.”

    September 29, 2022
    General
    The Washington Post

  • Can mRNA Technology Help Scientists Produce a Viable HIV Vaccine?

    In the Masiphumele township in Cape Town — which hosts one of the Desmond Tutu Foundation’s vaccine research facilities — 1 in 4 people live with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. South Africa has the greatest burden of HIV in the world — of its 60 million people, 8.2 million are living with the deadly disease. Globally, in 2021, around 650,000 died from AIDS-related illnesses.

    September 29, 2022
    HIV Vaccine
    Devex

  • US CDC Expands Pre-Exposure Eligibility for Monkeypox Vaccine

    At risk people nationwide will now be able to get Bavarian Nordic's (BAVA.CO) Jynneos monkeypox vaccine before being exposed to the disease, US Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said on Wednesday. The CDC had previously recommended vaccination after known or presumed exposure to the virus for most groups deemed to be at high risk of contracting it, as well as for those who had visited a geographic area where known monkeypox transmission is occurring.

    September 28, 2022
    General
    Reuters

  • Does Prenatal PrEP Exposure Affect Outcomes in Children?

    Children born to women using oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) showed no differences in growth or neurodevelopmental outcomes compared with children whose mothers did not take HIV prevention pills, according to research presented at the 24th International AIDS Conference in Montreal.

    September 28, 2022
    PrEP
    POZ Magazine

  • After Fiona, Needs for People With HIV and LGBTQ People in Puerto Rico Remain Dire

    This month, media attention given to Puerto Rico’s ongoing plight paled in comparison to the pomp and circumstance surrounding the corpse parade of England’s former monarch. Watching this coverage unfold, one might think the United States were still subjugated colonies of Great Britain, even as one of this country’s own territories received only marginal concern in the wake of a devastating storm.

    September 28, 2022
    General
    TheBody

  • ‘It Is Sinking Us Even Further’: STI Clinics, Already Stretched Thin, Strain Under Weight of Monkeypox Response

    At the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s sexual health clinic, patients are normally seen within 24 hours. Recently, amid the monkeypox outbreak, it’s been a five-day wait. At Open Door Health, an LGBTQ+ community clinic in Providence, RI, a standard test for a sexually transmitted infection might take 15 minutes. Testing for monkeypox — between authorizing the test and donning and doffing PPE — has dragged up to an hour. Insurance reimbursement doesn’t cover all that added time.

    September 27, 2022
    General
    STAT

  • Emory Initiative Will Mail One Million HIV Tests Nationwide, for Free

    By early next year, people in 50 states will be able to order free HIV self-tests online through Together TakeMeHome, a partnership between Emory University, public health, test manufacturer OraSure and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which will provide $43 million in funding over five years.

    September 27, 2022
    General
    Georgia Public Radio

  • A New Shot Guards Against HIV, but Access for Africans Is Uncertain

    For seven years, a daily pill has been available in South Africa to protect people from getting HIV. But when Victoria Makhandule, a community health worker, counsels the young women in her township about the medication, they tell her it doesn’t work for them. These young women are among the most vulnerable in the world to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, but they say the daily pills, known as PrEP, bring their own challenges. The women may spend an unexpected night away from home and miss a dose, or forget for a day or two.

    September 27, 2022
    PrEP
    The New York Times

  • Monkeypox Appears to Recede, but Risks and Uncertainties Linger

    Nearly four months after the first report of monkeypox in the United States, the virus is showing promising signs of retreat, easing fears that it may spill over into populations of older adults, pregnant women and young children. Supplies of the vaccine have improved, and federal health officials have begun clinical trials to gain a better understanding of who benefits, and how much, from both the vaccine and the drug used to treat those who become infected.

    September 26, 2022
    General
    The New York Times

  • South Africa: HIV Treatment in South Africa - How to Help People Stay On ARVs When Life Gets in the Way

    Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has turned HIV into a manageable chronic condition. When ART is working effectively, HIV cannot be transmitted. This allows people with HIV to live fuller lives without the fear of infecting others. It's also led global HIV control efforts to focus on increasing ART coverage. The aim is to improve the health of people living with HIV, and to decrease and eventually halt the spread of the virus.

    September 26, 2022
    Treatment
    allAfrica

  • AIDS as Fact and Fiction in a Novel About a Black Gay Activist

    The way Rasheed Newson tells it in his debut novel, My Government Means to Kill Me, set in 1980s New York City, the AIDS activist group ACT UP didn’t spring into existence after a rousing call to action by writer Larry Kramer during a speech at the LGBT Community Center. Nope.

    September 26, 2022
    General
    POZ Magazine

  • Go for HIV Test! ... NACP Urges Public As Infections Increase Across the Country

    The National sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDs Control Programme (NACP) has implored the general public to take seriously testing to know their HIV status in the wake of increased infections across the country. The Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at the Programme, Kenneth AyehDanso, describing the country’s HIV prevalence as a “generalised epidemic” said testing was the only way out to put those reactive to the virus on early treatment and for person’s negative to take precautionary measures against infection.

    September 26, 2022
    General
    Ghanaian Times

  • Subject, Not Suspect: The New Hazards of Conducting Clinical Research in the Dobbs Era

    Here’s a scenario anyone who has done clinical research will recognize: A 32-year-old woman participating in a Phase 1 healthy-volunteer crossover clinical trial tested negative for pregnancy when she enrolled and agreed to use contraception during the course of the trial, as specified in the protocol. After completing the first phase of the trial, she checked in for the second phase, at which time the required pregnancy test was positive.

    September 26, 2022
    General
    STAT

  • Indian Researcher in US Breaking New Ground in Pursuit of HIV Vaccine

    As the aroma of freshly brewed coffee seeps into his cubicle, Prof Rama Rao Amara remembers that he has not had his lunch. Amara, 52, from Kavali in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, says that he has become forgetful of late. “At times, I leave my daughter's school bag behind while dropping her off at school,” he says with a smile as he makes me a cup of coffee. The self-confessed movie buff and cricket fan is now completely immersed in his work—an HIV vaccine project.

    September 25, 2022
    HIV Vaccine
    The Week

  • A Viral Colonial Legacy: HIV, Monkeypox Emerged Due to Ongoing Colonial Viral Neglect

    In mid June, one of our good friends was sick with monkeypox (MPX) but was unable to get tested. He was in immense pain and couldn’t sleep, but only had proctitis and internal lesions. We wondered whether a test could detect the virus in his saliva, and a friend who was a clinician sent us a research paper. In this paper, one figure showed that it could, whereas another figure showed a lesion-pocked, bloody placenta and explained that the child who’d just been born had died.

    September 25, 2022
    General
    Contagion Live

  • Elton John Awarded Medal by Joe Biden for His Work To End AIDS

    Elton John was moved to tears after being awarded the National Humanities Medal for his work to end AIDS by the US president following a special performance at the White House. The singer performed on the White House lawn for the president and first lady and about 2,000 “everyday history makers” on Friday night. The event, A Night When Hope and History Rhyme, included an audience of teachers, students, nurses, LGBTQ+ advocates, military families and mental health advocates.

    September 24, 2022
    General
    The Guardian

  • HIV Spike Among British Columbia Drug Users Associated With COVID-19 Lockdown, Research Says

    A new study says reduced access to HIV services during early COVID-19 lockdowns in British Columbia was associated with a "sharp increase" in HIV transmission among some drug users. The study by University of British Columbia researchers says that while reduced social interaction during the March-May 2020 lockdown worked to reduce HIV transmission, that may not have "outweighed" the increase caused by reduced access to services.

    September 24, 2022
    General
    Yahoo News

  • HIV and HCV Coinfection Raises Heart Attack Risk as People Age

    People living with HIV face a rising likelihood of heart attacks as they age, and this risk is magnified if they also have hepatitis C virus (HCV), according to new research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. The good news is that managing traditional cardiovascular risk factors, keeping HIV under control and getting treated for hepatitis C can reduce the risk.

    September 23, 2022
    General
    POZ Magazine

  • HIV Therapies Currently Need To Be Taken Regularly for Life – Longer-Lasting Antibody Treatments Could One Day Offer an Equally Effective One-Shot Alternative

    Antiretroviral therapy has had an enormous impact on treating HIV infections around the world. The millions of people currently taking these treatments under medical supervision can reasonably expect to reduce their viral loads to undetectable levels, eliminate the risk of transmission and live a normal life span. However, antiretroviral therapy is not without shortcomings. People need to take these medications regularly for life, and low compliance can lead to drug resistance.

    September 23, 2022
    Treatment
    The Conversation

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