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7 APRIL 2023 VOLUME 25 ISSUE 14

Media Coverage

  • HIV Scientist Kundai Chinyenze: ‘I Looked at Mum’s Hospital Bed and Swore: I’m Going To Become a Doctor’

    s a child, Kundai Chinyenze wanted to become a chemical engineer. Her mother, a nurse, said she should train as a doctor. Chinyenze disagreed, until one day, when she was 16, her mother was admitted to hospital in Harare, capital of Zimbabwe. When Chinyenze went to visit, she heard nurses whispering behind her: “That’s the daughter of the woman with AIDS.” It was the first time Chinyenze, now 44, knew her mother had been infected with HIV. “I was gutted,” she remembers. “All I knew was, ‘you get it, you’re dead.’ I didn’t understand much else beyond that.”

    April 6, 2023
    General
    The Guardian

  • Growing Number of People Re-Engaging With HIV Care in South Africa Have Advanced HIV

    While rates of advanced HIV (previously known as AIDS) are declining, the proportion of people coming back to medical care who have advanced HIV is increasing and deaths in this group are increasing. These findings from the large public sector programme in the township of Khayelitsha in Cape Town, South Africa are reported in the journal AIDS.

    April 6, 2023
    General
    aidsmap

  • ‘Morning After’ Antibiotics Could Slash Odds for Common STDs

    A "morning after" dose of a common antibiotic can greatly lower the chances of sexually transmitted bacterial infections in high-risk people, a new clinical trial has found. Researchers discovered that taking the antibiotic doxycycline within 72 hours of unprotected sex slashed the risk of gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis by two-thirds among gay and bisexual men and transgender women who either had HIV or were taking medication to help prevent HIV.

    April 6, 2023
    General
    Medical Xpress

  • Poverty and Insufficient Drug Regulation Expose Zimbabwe to HIV

    Drug use continues to grow throughout Zimbabwe, particularly among people who are vulnerable to or who have already been diagnosed with HIV. In many instances, people who use drugs (PWUD) who are living with HIV acquired the virus not through intravenous drug use, but through condomless sex.

    April 6, 2023
    General
    TheBody

  • New Test Has Been Developed For the Most Common STI

    Trichomoniasis — AKA "trich" — has approximately 156 million cases, making it an incredibly common STI. Now, it can be tested with a new kit that is fast and cost-friendly. Stemming from an infection, through unprotected intercourse, trich causes burning, itching, and soreness for those who test positive. There are more cases of trich than chlamydia and gonorrhea, which is why Washington State University's Professor John Alderete referred to it as the "most common STI you've probably never heard of."

    April 5, 2023
    General
    Health News

  • New Plant-Based Ingredient Could Advance HIV Treatment

    Researchers at The Wistar Institute, an international biomedical research center leading in cancer, immunology, infectious disease, and vaccine development, have discovered a promising plant-based compound that targets persistent HIV reservoirs in HIV-positive patients. A paper recently published in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy identifies hopeaphenol as the plant-based compound possessing effective HIV antiviral properties.

    April 5, 2023
    Treatment
    Plus Magazine

  • Global Study Finds Data on HIV, HCV in PWID Elusive but Essential

    The first global meta-analysis of direct surveys of HIV/AIDS and HCV incidence in people who inject drugs (PWID) contributes data that could be key to developing effective public health interventions, according to investigators in the HIV and HCV Incidence Review Collaborative Group. These data, often sparse and reflecting substantial heterogeneity across regions, are intended to inform policies and actions to meet UNAIDS and WHO goals of ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic and eliminating HCV as a public health threat by 2030.

    April 4, 2023
    General
    Contagion Live

  • Cognitive Impairment in People Living With HIV Not Made Worse by COVID-19 in Those Who Are Vaccinated, Study Suggests

    New research being presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Copenhagen, Denmark (15–18 April), finds that people living with HIV (PWH) performed worse on cognitive tests in the first four months following SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to people without HIV, but these differences appear to be attributable to HIV and not to COVID-19.

    April 4, 2023
    General
    Medical Xpress

  • London ‘On Course’ To Become World’s First Major City To Eliminate New HIV Infections

    London is “on course” to become the world’s first major city to eliminate new HIV infections. Mayor Sadiq Khan believes the capital is on track to achieve the milestone by its target date of 2030. The goal was set in January 2018, when Mr Khan signed the city up to the Paris Declaration on Fast-Track Cities Ending the HIV Epidemic - with signatories aiming for zero new cases of HIV, preventable deaths and stigma by 2030.

    April 4, 2023
    General
    Evening Standard

  • What You Should Know Before Using DoxyPEP (to Prevent STIs)

    The concept of doxyPEP is similar to PEP for preventing HIV and involves taking the antibiotic doxycycline after having oral or anal sex without a condom. Clinical trials have shown doxyPEP to be effective in preventing chlamydia, syphilis, and gonorrhea in cisgender men and transgender women who have sex with men. Because this preventative strategy is new, many health care providers may not be aware of it. If you think doxyPEP may be right for you, here are a few things to discuss with your provider.

    April 4, 2023
    General
    TheBody

  • The Role of Pharmacists in Prescribing HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis

    The FDA approved emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (Truvada) in 2012 and emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (Descovy) in 2019 for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). However, in the United States, only 15 percent of people who may benefit from PrEP take the medication. Factors attributed to PrEP underutilization include geographic limitations, stigma, and limited health care capacity. Research indicates an unmet need for HIV prevention in ethnic minorities, young adults, and women.

    April 4, 2023
    PrEP
    Pharmacy Times

  • Gene Therapy Decreases HIV Reservoir and Moderately Suppresses Viral Load in Some

    Two clinical trials show that giving a single infusion of genetically modified CD4 cells increased CD4 count, reduced the size of the HIV reservoir, and controlled viral loads over durations lasting weeks to years. Dr Ana Enriquez of Emory University presented the results this February at the 30th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2023) in Seattle.

    April 4, 2023
    General
    aidsmap

  • Uganda Passes Severe Anti-LGBTQ Law—Again

    The Ugandan parliament recently passed a draconian anti-LGBTQ law. The Anti-Homosexuality Act, as it is formally known, is intended “to protect the traditional family,” as its introduction states. However, it needs to be signed by the country’s president, Yoweri Museveni―who has previously campaigned against homosexuality―to become law. The bill follows a similar attempt at outlawing the LGBTQI community in 2014. That law was signed by Museveni, who has been president since 1986.

    April 4, 2023
    General
    TheBodyPro

  • After Decades Under a Virus’s Shadow, He Now Lives Free of HIV

    In September 1988, an intern at San Francisco General Hospital told Paul Edmonds that he had HIV. Worse, the virus had already ravaged his immune system and progressed to full-blown AIDS. Edmonds was 33 that day. Having seen friends with HIV waste away in months, he assumed he would be dead within a year or two. Maybe sooner. “I remember how I felt inside when I heard,” he said. “I felt my heart sink.”

    April 3, 2023
    Cure
    Washington Post

  • Direct-Acting Antiviral Drugs For The Treatment Of Hepatitis C

    In the previous articles of this series, I’ve outlined the seriousness and uncontrolled nature of hepatitis C. In the absence of a vaccine, the control and treatment of hepatitis C, much like that of HIV/AIDS, depends on the use of antiviral medications. Recent progress in the development of several highly active, anti-hepatitis C drugs has been a triumph of modern medicine. These drugs usher in an era of effective treatment and even elimination of hepatitis C both nationally and globally.

    April 3, 2023
    General
    Forbes

  • Implants and Inserts Could Offer New HIV Prevention Options

    Small implants placed under the skin and vaginal or rectal microbicide inserts could potentially offer convenient new options for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), according to study results presented at the 30th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Seattle. One research team tested a refillable islatravir implant that could last for several years, while another team evaluated a biodegradable implant.

    April 3, 2023
    General
    POZ Magazine

  • The Tragic, Preventable Reasons Syphilis Is Surging Among US Infants

    A decade ago, the United States stood on the brink of eliminating the scourge of babies born with syphilis. Now, cases are surging, a phenomenon that is underscoring deep inequities in the nation’s health-care system and reviving concerns about a disease easily controlled with routine antibiotics. The spike, driven in part by the nation’s drug and homelessness crisis, is especially apparent across the Sun Belt, according to public health experts and data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    April 2, 2023
    General
    Washington Post

  • Decolonising Global Health: Lessons From Zimbabwe

    The process of shifting control of public health programmes from the global north to local organisations needs to be carefully planned and navigated, say researchers involved in the transition of HIV programmes in Zimbabwe. Transition plans should be sensitive to challenges and opportunities linked to the local country context and to historic relationships between local and global organisations.

    March 31, 2023
    General
    aidsmap

  • Your Patients Deserve to Choose the Dapivirine Vaginal Ring for HIV Prevention

    Katherine Bunge, MD, MPH, an assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, reviews what we know to date about the dapivirine vaginal ring as an HIV prevention tool—and makes the case for its consideration in the US.

    March 31, 2023
    PrEP
    The Body Pro

  • Can PEPFAR End Global AIDS in the Coming Decade?

    Allan Maleche, the head of the Kenya Legal and Ethical Issues Network on HIV/AIDS (KELIN), remembers what his country was like before the introduction of lifesaving HIV medications in the early 2000s. “This sounds like a sob story, but people were on their deathbeds, writing their last will and testament,” he says. “The moment ARVs [antiretroviral medications] came on board, we saw a lot of people bounce back and become vibrant, helping others to not become HIV positive and being active citizens of the world.”

    March 31, 2023
    General
    TheBody

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