4 November 2016 VOLUME 17 ISSUE 44

Media Coverage

• Smoking may hurt HIV outcomes more than HIV itself

  Smokers with HIV could see smoking shorten their lifespan more than the disease itself does, according to new research to be published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. Researchers modeled the impact of HIV using the most up-to-date treatment and life expectancy data. They found that for adults who stick to their HIV treatment plan, smoking reduces life expectancy by about twice as much as the HIV itself does.

  November 3, 2016

  STAT

• PrEP had nothing to do with decline in condom use

  Researchers set out to evaluate whether changes in the use of condoms reflected increased adoption of serosorting (having sex only with those of similar HIV status) or biomedical preventions like antiretroviral treatment. Their report, published in May in the journal AIDS, concluded that condomless sex continues to increase among men who have sex with men, but “the trends are not explained by serosorting or ART.”

  November 3, 2016

  PrEP

  Advocate

• Israeli pilot program will provide free HIV-prevention medication to at-risk groups

  The Israeli Health Ministry will begin a pilot program next month that will provide free HIV-prevention medication to at-risk population groups: gay men having unprotected sex with multiple partners, couples where one of the partners is HIV positive, drug addicts, and prostitutes.

  November 3, 2016

  PrEP

  The Tower

• Russian city in midst of HIV epidemic

  Russian health officials say one in 50 people in the country’s fourth-largest city is carrying the HIV virus....The central Russian city of Yekaterinburg suffers from an HIV epidemic, regional Deputy Health Minister Tatiana Savinova said, according to a statement widely reported by Russian media. The city of 1.5 million people has 27,000 residents, or 1.8 percent of the population, carrying the virus, she said.

  November 2, 2016

  CBS News

• Africa: we can lead the way in ending Aids, Malaria and TB

  In September, world leaders pledged nearly US$13 billion to...the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In a time of significant global uncertainty and strife, this was a remarkable display of commitment to the health and well-being of the most vulnerable populations on the planet....But donor resources are not limitless....We need to marshal resources and leadership from the countries that, tragically, know them best – many of which are in Africa.

  November 1, 2016

  All Africa

• Electronic health records can help select candidates for HIV PrEP

  A machine learning algorithm used to analyse electronic health records (EHRs) identified high-risk individuals who could potentially benefit from PrEP, according to a report presented this week at IDWeek 2016 in New Orleans. Out of 800,000 patients in a large EHR database, more than 8000 were found to be potential PrEP candidates.

  November 1, 2016

  aidsmap

• Explainer: the how, what and why of the latest HIV vaccine trial

  As the global quest for an HIV vaccine continues, Linda-Gail Bekker explains the significance of the latest large-scale trial underway in South Africa.

  November 1, 2016

  HIV Vaccine

  The Conversation

• Europe’s authorities “are playing catch up” with the provision of PrEP claims new report

  PrEP Access In Europe, a report provided by the PrEP in Europe Initiative...has called for European governments to make the HIV preventative drug PrEP available to those at imminent risk as a matter of urgency... [and] to provide more information about PrEP and make it widely available to the public, so they can fully comprehend the advantages of the drug themselves.

  November 1, 2016

  PrEP

  Gay Times

• The new 90-90-90: $90-$90-$90

  HIV, viral hepatitis and tuberculosis can each be treated at an annual cost of just $90, Dr Andrew Hill told the 2016 International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection (HIV Glasgow), held 23-26 October...But Dr Hill cautioned that few policy makers or purchasers of anti-HIV drugs in Europe were aware of how cheaply generics can be manufactured. “...We need a lot more pricing transparency, which will have a cascade effect across therapeutic areas,” he said.

  November 1, 2016

  aidsmap

• Atomo Diagnostics awarded US$2.6 million grant to develop simple HIV rapid diagnostic test

  Atomo Diagnostics today announced it is the recipient of a US$2.6 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support development of a [next-generation] affordable, reliable and simple HIV rapid diagnostic test that will enable people in resource-poor countries to test themselves....A key program component will be engaging with public and private sector partners in developing countries to support commercial launch in key markets.

  October 31, 2016

  News-Medical

• New biologic medication shows promise in treating multi-drug resistant HIV patients

  A new biologic medication - the first for HIV - is showing promise in treating patients with multidrug resistance, according to phase 3 research presented at IDWeek 2016. Administered intravenously once every two weeks, ibalizumab is a...monoclonal antibody, a genetically engineered molecule that coats immune system cells to protect them from HIV entry. Eighty-three percent of patients with multi-drug resistant HIV had a virologic response to the drug, according to the study.

  October 31, 2016

  News-Medical

• Only a small proportion of gay men with HIV receive anal cancer screening

  In the absence of national screening guidelines, only 11% of HIV-positive gay and bisexual men in the US received anal pap smears to detect anal cancer or precancerous cell changes between 2009 and 2012, with disparities between patient groups and variations across centres, according to a presentation at IDWeek 2016 this week in New Orleans.

  October 31, 2016

  aidsmap

• Tanzania: government suspends some HIV programmes for gay men, says health minister

  Tanzania has suspended community-based HIV/AIDS prevention programmes for gay men, the health minister said on Monday, in the latest crackdown on the high-risk group. Ummy Mwalimu, Tanzania's minister for health, said the government had received reports that some local non-governmental organisations were promoting and normalising same-sex relationships as part of their HIV programmes.

  October 31, 2016

  Reuters

• HIV vaccine: historic trial begins

  History will be made this week, when the first participant in a large-scale HIV vaccine trial receives a shot of the vaccine, designed to prevent a strain of HIV prevalent in southern Africa.

  October 30, 2016

  HIV Vaccine

  News24

• GSK exits U.S. market with its HPV vaccine Cervarix

  Facing “very low market demand,” GlaxoSmithKline has decided to pull out of the U.S. market with the HPV vaccine Cervarix. It’s a move that gives Merck a stranglehold on the market as public health officials work feverishly to boost vaccination rates....A sex stigma, safety concerns, antivaccine campaigns and other factors have hindered uptake for a vaccine class once anticipated to reel in $4 billion to $10 billion.

  October 28, 2016

  Fierce Biotech

• Tests of online PrEP purchases by London clinic find no fakes, and adequate drug levels

  A sexual health clinic in central London that offered to test drug levels in users of tenofovir/emtricitabine pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) who had bought it online found adequate levels of both drugs in their blood, and no sample suggesting counterfeit drugs....Dr Nneka Nwokolo presented data from a sample of 234 Dean Street clinic [Soho, London] patients.

  October 26, 2016

  aidsmap

• Dolutegravir and central nervous system side-effects: abacavir, older age increase the risk

  Insomnia, dizziness, headache and other central nervous system side-effects are occurring more frequently with everyday use of dolutegravir than clinical trials had suggested, and are most likely to occur in women, people over 60, and people starting abacavir at the same time, a German research group told the International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection (HIV Glasgow) Tuesday.

  October 25, 2016

  aidsmap

• French study reveals the growing complexity of medical needs as people with HIV age

  The complexity of the needs of people living with HIV will continue to increase as the population ages, and clinicians need to go beyond thinking about co-morbidities to consider multi-morbidities – clusters of medical conditions which complicate one another – when caring for these people, Dr Edouard Battegay of University Hospital Zurich told the International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection (HIV Glasgow).

  October 25, 2016

  aidsmap

Published Research

• Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis use are independently associated with increasing diagnoses of bacterial sexually transmitted infections in men accessing care at a Boston Community Health Center: 2005-20015

  PrEP use and HIV infection were each associated with increasing BSTI rates in a Boston CHC over the past decade. BSTI were more common among men of color and/or those without stable health insurance. Increased BSTI screening and education is warranted for patients in these subgroups.

  November 4, 2016

  HIV Prevention and Diagnosis

• Benefits and risks of antiretroviral therapy for perinatal HIV prevention

  Conclusions: Antenatal ART resulted in significantly lower rates of early HIV transmission than zidovudine alone but a higher risk of adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes.

  November 3, 2016

  NEJM

• 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.

  November 3, 2016

  Science

• Qualitative analysis of sexually experienced female adolescents: attitudes about vaginal health

  Overlapping themes included young women's view of their vagina as a space that needed to be healthy for sexual partners and future fertility....All reported a variety of practices to maintain their vaginal health. Attitudes about vaginally-placed products revealed concerns about the sensory experience of having a product in the vagina, safety concerns and interest in the product's objective (prevention of pregnancy or infection).

  October 29, 2016

  J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol

• Modeling impact and cost-effectiveness of increased efforts to attract voluntary medical male circumcision clients ages 20–29 in Zimbabwe

  Zimbabwe voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) program data were used to project trends in coverage by age....Although increased investment in recruiting VMMC clients ages 20–29 may lead to greater overall impact if recruitment efforts are successful, it may also lead to lower cost-effectiveness, depending on the cost of increasing recruitment. Programs should measure the relationship between increased effort and increased ability to attract this age group.

  October 26, 2016

  PLoS ONE

• At gathering of HIV/AIDS pioneers, raw memories mix with current conflicts

  When I walked into the dining hall of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on 13 October, I immediately noticed Françoise Barré-Sinoussi having dinner with Robert Gallo....A most unusual conference on the history and future of HIV/AIDS research would begin later that evening, and these two scientists would be the stars for the central roles their laboratories played....But for too many years, that grand achievement had them...on opposing sides.

  October 26, 2016

  Science

• Early antiretroviral therapy initiation: access and equity of viral load testing for HIV treatment monitoring

  Building on lessons from the past, we propose a new framework to accelerate viral load scale-up and ensure equitable access to this essential test....For countries that have just started to scale up viral load testing, lessons can be learnt from countries such as Botswana, Brazil, South Africa, and Thailand, which have already established viral load programmes.

  October 20, 2016

  Lancet Infectious Diseases

• Uptake of HIV preexposure prophylaxis among commercially insured persons: United States, 2010-2014

  Our analytic methodology provides the only feasible means to monitor PrEP uptake in the United States. While a marked increasing trend in uptake was observed for males, the number of females who used PrEP remained very low during the study period. Interventions are needed to increase PrEP use by women at substantial risk of acquiring HIV infection.

  October 19, 2016

  PrEP

  Clin Infect Dis

• The benefits and risks of PrEP and kidney function

  In their article in The Lancet HIV, Monica Gandhi and colleagues report a small decrease in renal function, as estimated from creatinine clearance, in people taking pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV infection.

  August 31, 2016

  PrEP

  The Lancet

Announcements