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9 DECEMBER 2022 VOLUME 24 ISSUE 49

Media Coverage

  • Russia Reaches Top 5 Globally for New HIV Cases in 2021

    Of the 1.5 million new HIV cases in 2021, Russia accounted for almost 4 percent. By this indicator, Russia is ahead of Tanzania (3.6 percent), Uganda (3.6 percent), Zambia (2.5 percent) and Kenya (2.3 percent). According to Statista, only four countries have a higher share. These are South Africa (14 percent), Mozambique (6.5 percent), Nigeria (4.9 percent) and India (4.2 percent). In total, 10 countries, including Russia, account for half of new HIV cases.

    December 9, 2022
    General
    Yahoo News

  • Significant Barriers Keep Patients from Adopting Injectable PrEP

    Though injectable versions of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) can be more convenient than a daily pill, a new qualitative study of patient perceptions suggests physicians have a key role to play in educating patients and overcoming potential barriers to usage. The report was published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

    December 9, 2022
    General
    Contagion Live

  • Dangers of Undiagnosed Sexually Transmitted Infections

    Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are increasingly common and may appear to be harmless, but in reality, these infections can carry serious risks. Many STIs have zero to few noticeable symptoms, leaving infected individuals without any indication to get tested and seek treatment. These untreated infections may cause severe and irreversible damage, from infertility to cancer.

    December 9, 2022
    General
    Mirage News

  • Chemsex Popularity Raises HIV Risk, Including In Malaysia: Report

    The rising use of psychoactive drugs during sex involving mostly, but not exclusively, among gay men in Asia could pose an increasing risk to public health, a new report by Harm Reduction International (HRI) shows. The rising popularity of “chemsex” – the practice of using specific drugs to enhance and prolong sex, often involving group sex among gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) – is pushing the need for a wider offering of harm reduction services, as those who engage in chemsex are at higher risk of contracting HIV than the general population, including in Malaysia.

    December 8, 2022
    General
    CodeBlue

  • PrEP Use Low Among Commercially Insured Injection Drug Users

    Despite its proven efficacy in preventing HIV infection, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is underutilized among people who inject drugs (PWID). This challenge in mitigating the HIV epidemic prompted researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center to evaluate the prevalence of PrEP use among commercially insured PWID for a study published in JAMA.

    December 8, 2022
    PrEP
    Pharmacy Times

  • Zambia Needs a Renewed Campaign Against HIV/AIDS

    Since reporting its first HIV/AIDS cases in the mid-1980s, Zambia has fought hard to eliminate the virus. As a major sign of progress, in December 2020, the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia announced that the country had reached its 90:90:90 target goal and was on the verge of attaining 95:95:95. This meant that of the estimated 1,300,000 Zambians living with HIV, 95 percent were aware of their status; 94.6 percent of those who were aware of their status were on treatment; and 94.2 percent of those on treatment were virally suppressed.

    December 8, 2022
    General
    TheBody

  • US Will Lift Monkeypox Emergency Declaration

    On December 2, US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced that the federal government intends to end the public health emergency declaration for monkeypox, now renamed mpox. The Biden administration does not expect to renew the declaration when it expires at the end of January.

    December 8, 2022
    General
    POZ Magazine

  • HIV Transmission From Mother to Child Can Be Stopped With Modern Antiviral Drugs

    Antiviral drugs almost completely reduce the risk of mothers passing on HIV infection to their children, even in a low-income country with a high HIV incidence such as Tanzania, according to a new study in The Lancet HIV by researchers from Karolinska Institutet. The discovery raises hopes of achieving the World Health Organization's goal of eliminating the spread of infection from mother to child.

    December 7, 2022
    General
    News Medical

  • The People Who Need Injectable HIV Drugs Most Are the Ones Who Can’t Get Them, BHIVA Told

    Injectable antiretroviral therapy (ART) will never reach its potential until people with unsuppressed viral loads can have it, the British HIV Association’s Autumn Conference heard last month in London. Three presenters from the National HIV Nurses Association (NHIVNA) told the meeting that the criteria for injectable cabotegravir and rilpivirine were so strict that very few patients are eligible for them.

    December 7, 2022
    General
    aidsmap

  • PrEP Far More Effective Than Sexual Abstinence In HIV Prevention: HIV Groups

    HIV prevention drug PrEP far supersedes other prevention methods like condom use and abstinence in preventing HIV infection via sexual contact, HIV/AIDS groups said today. The Malaysian AIDS Foundation (MAF), Malaysian AIDS Council (MAC), and the Malaysian Society for HIV Medicine (MASHM) pointed out that the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) oral medication is 99 per cent effective in reducing the chance of acquiring HIV via sexual contact and 74 per cent effective in reducing HIV transmission via injection drug use.

    December 7, 2022
    PrEP
    CodeBlue

  • Male Circumcision Rates Among Major Hospitals in Nairobi

    Male circumcision doesn’t come cheap in Kenya’s capital Nairobi. The Karen Hospital on Monday, December 5, put up a post on its official Twitter page indicating prices for male circumcision. The hospital located in one of Nairobi’s suburbs said it charges Sh40,000 for the cut under local anesthesia (LA) and Sh50,000 when using General anesthesia (GA).

    December 7, 2022
    Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision
    Standard Media

  • Medics Raise the Alarm As HIV Infections Increase to 20,000

    Doctors have raised the alarm over surging HIV infections in Turkana County. Data show the number of people living with the virus has risen to more than 20,000 across the county. Acting Chief officer for Health and Sanitation Gilchrist Lokoel said the HIV prevalence rate in the county was worrying, warning that the situation needs urgent intervention measures to prevent new infections.

    December 7, 2022
    General
    The Standard

  • An HIV-Free World Is Finally Within Reach

    British health authorities recently announced that they hope to prevent all new cases of HIV in England and officially make the country the first in the world to “defeat the virus” by 2030. They say they will achieve this through a series of new deals they made with pharmaceutical companies to ensure the availability of effective new medicines across the country. This is undoubtedly good news for the people of England.

    December 6, 2022
    General
    Al Jazeera

  • Heavy Rain and Floods Pave the Way for Higher HIV Prevalence

    Increasing levels of heavy rainfall and flooding may be indicators of a higher burden of HIV, according to research published this September in JAMA Network Open. Cross-sectional research led by Dr Jason Nagata and colleagues at the University of California suggests links between climatic changes (such as heavier rainfall and flooding) and HIV outcomes. This was an analysis of nationally representative surveys which collected data from households on a wide range of health issues in 21 countries across sub-Saharan Africa between 2005 and 2017.

    December 6, 2022
    General
    aidsmap

  • Genetics Impact Immune Response to Herpes Simplex Virus

    Research into the way genetics affect the antiviral response to herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) may help to avoid rare complications, such as herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE), according to a study published in Science Immunology. HSV-1 is among the most common human pathogens and infects several billion people worldwide. In rare cases—1 in 250,000 to 500,000 individuals per year—HSV-1 can lead to HSE, predominantly in children younger than 3 years of age.

    December 6, 2022
    General
    Pharmacy Times

  • Menstrual Changes, Early Menopause: What HIV-Infected Women Need To Know About Their Health

    HIV infection, caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, requires many lifestyle changes in order to stay healthy. It means taking your medication on schedule, eating well and getting regular physical activity. For women who are infected with the virus, Gynecologic care means screening for and then treating health issues affecting sexual and reproductive organs.

    December 5, 2022
    General
    The Indian Express

  • ‘HIV Self-Test Kits Need To Be More Accessible’

    “While self-testing provides convenience, we also want to emphasise the importance of support and counseling if a person tests positive,” he added, saying that any place offering rapid testing should provide advice and support on the next steps. BDAC hopes to continue its free and confidential rapid testing programme, which has been running for the past five years, at its new operational centre based at the Health Promotion Centre in Berakas.

    December 5, 2022
    General
    The Scoop

  • Mozambique: HIV Infections Still Rising

    The number of adults infected by HIV has risen by more than 350,000 in six years, according to the latest statistics released by the Ministry of Health on 1 December. Data is from the 2021 Survey on Assessing the Impacts of HIV/AIDS (INSIDA). The Ministry proudly reported that HIV prevalence rate among adults aged between 15 and 49 fell from 13.2 percent in 2015 to 12.4 percent in 2021.

    December 5, 2022
    General
    allAfrica

  • COVID-19 Disrupted HIV Testing and Prevention

    The nation’s ability to prevent HIV was “dealt a hard blow” early in the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analysis published on December 1, World AIDS Day. However, according to the CDC, a rapid rebound in services “is a testament to quick, resourceful local innovations that, if scaled up and sustained, could help reach national HIV prevention goals.”

    December 5, 2022
    General
    POZ Magazine

  • HIV Is Not a Death Sentence; You Can Live a Normal Life – Sadag

    There are 8.5 million people living with HIV in South Africa, with 85,796 deaths as a result of AIDS in 2022, according to a Statistics SA report. “You will live a normal life and things are going to be okay,” said Lara Ellwood of the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag) and host of a Facebook Live discussion titled “World AIDS Day – Unpacking Mental Health and HIV”.

    December 5, 2022
    General
    Daily Maverick

  • Cultural Barriers Are Preventing Women in Eswatini From Accessing HIV Care

    Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), a tiny country of just over a million people in Southern Africa, has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world. As of 2021, UNAIDS reported that 27.9 percent of people aged 15-49 within the country are living with the virus. According to the Global Fund―an international financing partnership that works to eliminate HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria―63 percent of the people living with HIV (PLWH) in the country are women, who continue to be disproportionately affected by the virus.

    December 5, 2022
    General
    TheBody

  • Substance Use Linked With Antiretroviral Therapy Non-adherence Among People With HIV

    The United States has long been working toward mitigating the HIV epidemic. One of the measures of success focuses specifically on viral suppression among people living with HIV (PWH). Though antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence is a key factor of sustained viral suppression, less than two-thirds of diagnosed PWH in the United States hit this benchmark. Due to the correlation between virologic suppression and ART adherence, understanding the impediments of adherence is of the utmost importance.

    December 5, 2022
    General
    Pharmacy Times

  • FDA Approves Tenofovir Alafenamide for Adolescents With Chronic Hepatitis B Virus

    The FDA has approved a supplemental new drug application for tenofovir alafenamide (Vemlidy; Gilead Science) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in adolescents aged 12 years and older with compensated liver disease. Tenofovir alafenamide is a novel, targeted phosphonamidate prodrug of tenofovir that was initially approved by the FDA in 2016 for the once-daily treatment of adults with chronic HBV infection with compensated liver disease.

    December 5, 2022
    General
    Pharmacy Times

  • FDA Expands Use of Vemlidy to Adolescents with Chronic HBV Infection

    The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted a supplemental new drug application for Gildead Science’s antiviral medication Vemlidy to treat chronic hepatitis B infection in adolescents ages 12 and older with compensated liver disease. Vemlidy (tenofovir alafenamide) is a nucleoside analog reverse transcriptase inhibitor that previously was approved to treat adults with chronic liver disease in 2016 after it was found to be favorable to Gilead’s tenofovir disoproxil fumarate drug marketed as Viread.

    December 5, 2022
    General
    Contagion Live

  • FDA To Loosen Restrictions on Gay and Bisexual Men Donating Blood

    Under current rules, men who have recently had sex with men are not allowed to donate blood because of the risk of HIV transmission. The FDA plans to change these rules to allow more gay and bisexual men to donate blood. Due to concerns about HIV transmission, a complete prohibition was implemented in America in the 1980s. Gay and bisexual males, who did not have sex with other men in the previous year, were allowed to donate blood from 2015 until the acute blood shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020; after that, the period was shortened to three months.

    December 4, 2022
    General
    I'm Herald

  • New Plan To Reduce Hep-B Mother-to-Child Infection

    Dr SK Sarin, vice-chancellor, ILBS, said, “Our aim is to make as many as 100 mothers with Hepatitis B ambassadors of the Womb programme in the next year. They will be educated and will in turn educate other mothers about how a healthy life can be led.” Marking the 25th year of the ‘yellow ribbon’ campaign, the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) and the Delhi government’s department of health and family welfare launched a special programme on Saturday — winning over mothers with Hepatitis B (Womb) — to spread awareness about mother-to-child transmission of Hepatitis B.

    December 4, 2022
    General
    Hindustan Times

  • Looking Toward a Cure for Hepatitis B

    Infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) can be effectively treated with an oral nucleoside or nucleotide analog (NA). Still, lifelong daily medication is required and the clinical rebound that results from stopping medication can be severe. As is the case for other chronic viral infections, the holy grail of treatment would be a molecule to induce permanent remission with a delimited course of treatment.

    December 4, 2022
    General
    The Daily Star

  • Experimental HIV Vaccine Elicits Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies

    With 1.5 million new infections a year, the global fight against HIV remains a deadly and pressing challenge. While preventative strategies like pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) are highly effective, PrEP uptake remains low among the populations with the highest HIV incidence. A safe and effective HIV vaccine has long been an elusive yet constant goal. Vaccines that elicit antibodies with predefined genetic features and binding specificities have the potential for activity against a virus, like HIV, with high antigenic diversity.

    December 2, 2022
    HIV Vaccine
    Contagion Live

  • An Experimental HIV Vaccine Shows Promise in Early Human Trial

    An experimental HIV vaccine appears to have passed its first test in humans. In a newly released study, the vaccine candidate produced the sort of immune response that scientists had been hoping for in 97 percent of recipients. Importantly, the vaccine also seemed to be safe and well-tolerated.

    December 2, 2022
    HIV Vaccine
    Gizmodo

  • Dr. Anthony Fauci on the ‘Capabilities of Ending HIV’ in NYC and Beyond

    Thursday was World AIDS Day. It's dedicated to raising awareness of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and mourning those who have died of the virus and disease. Before he was the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci was the National Institute of Health's first director of its office of AIDS research back in 1988.

    December 2, 2022
    General
    Gothamist

  • Uganda: Museveni Roots for Prevention As the Best Way to Fight HIV/AIDS

    President Museveni has said prevention is the best way for the country to fight HIV/AIDS. "It's very easy to avoid. It's not like in the past where you could get AIDS through accidents, mother to child transmission. Currently you can survive all that due to the various interventions we put up," Museveni said. The president was speaking during the World AIDS day commemoration held in Rukungiri on Thursday.

    December 2, 2022
    General
    allAfrica

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