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HIV screening can detect more cases if focused on high risk groups

“Unexpectedly, non-targeted screening identified only a few new diagnoses, often already at late stages, and most newly diagnosed patients belonged to a high-risk group and had been tested previously,” Dr. Kayigan Wilson d'Almeida and colleagues from the Emergency Department HIV-Screening Group write in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

26 Oct 2011

Patients with HIV are not being screened enough for cancers: Study

According to a latest study finding presented at the Infectious Diseases Society of America 49th Annual Meeting, patients with HIV were less likely to have routine screening for breast, cervical and colon cancer compared with patients without HIV.

26 Oct 2011

Anti-HIV vaginal gel could also reduce genital herpes by half: Study

The study appears this week in the journal Cell Host & Microbe that tested the gel on women in South Africa (where the risk of HIV and herpes is great) found that the anti-HIV/AIDS drug tenofovir reduced herpes infections by 51% and HIV infections by 39%.

24 Oct 2011

Tenofovir gel confirmed to be effective against herpes in lab experiment, study shows

Data from lab experiments published online by the journal Cell Host and Microbes last week show that the gel form of the antiretroviral tenofovir, which is being investigated as an HIV prevention method, works to inhibit the reproduction of herpes virus in tonsil and cervical tissue, the New York Times reports.

24 Oct 2011

House to consider bill to scale back health law's Medicaid expansion

In other Medicaid news, AIDS experts worry that the current model of HIV/AIDS care could be put at risk by fiscal pressures and the changes that will occur as a result of the health law.

24 Oct 2011

Janssen announces FDA label update approval for PREZISTA HIV tablets

Janssen Therapeutics, Division of Janssen Products, LP, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a label update for PREZISTA (darunavir) tablets to include 192-week data from the ARTEMIS study.

22 Oct 2011

HIV/AIDS clinic in Pakistan working to fight stigma, provide treatment

Inter Press Service reports on the Family Care Centre for people living with HIV/AIDS in Pakistan, which opened in Peshawar on September 1 "in the hope of breaking the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS" in a region where myths surrounding the disease and its transmission are prevalent.

22 Oct 2011

Committed action, continued funding needed in global campaign against TB

A Lancet editorial responds to WHO's sixteenth annual report on global tuberculosis (TB) control, released on Oct 11, which shows that the incidence of tuberculosis has been falling worldwide since 2002, writing, "Successes in disease control in China and other countries show what sustained political and economic support can achieve. Rather than waiting for the elixir of economic success to arrive in all high-burden countries, committed action by donors, agencies, and governments in the most challenging settings is needed in the global campaign against tuberculosis."

22 Oct 2011

JAMA examines KFF/UNAIDS analysis on global HIV/AIDS funding

A news and perspectives piece in the current issue of JAMA examines a recent funding analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation and UNAIDS showing that "governments that support treatment and services for people with HIV/AIDS in low- and middle-income countries cut their annual contributions in 2010 by 10 percent," spending $6.9 billion last year compared with $7.6 billion in 2009.

22 Oct 2011

E-voucher program providing food to malnourished Zimbabweans living with HIV, TB

An electronic voucher system, introduced by the World Food Programme (WFP) and implemented by the health ministry and non-governmental organizations, is helping Zimbabweans living with HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) and their families obtain food and fight malnutrition, PlusNews reports.

22 Oct 2011

Bringing NTDs to the forefront of the global health agenda

In this "End the Neglect" blog post, Neeraj Mistry, managing director of the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, reports on the global burden of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in anticipation of the World Health Summit set to take place from October 23 to 26 in Berlin, Germany.

21 Oct 2011

Treating TB, HIV co-infections early, aggressively can save lives, multiple studies show

"Treating tuberculosis (TB) and HIV infections at the same time can be a challenge for patients and their doctors, but attacking both diseases early and aggressively isn't harmful and could save the lives of those who are sickest," according to a global study led by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

21 Oct 2011

Global Fund to transfer management of HIV/AIDS grant in Mali after investigation finds misuse of funds

"The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will transfer management of a $28.77 million HIV/AIDS grant from Mali's national AIDS council, the Haut Conseil de Lutte contre le Sida (the High Council for the Fight Against AIDS, or HCLNS), to a new principal recipient at the end of the year" after mismanagement of funds was discovered in the country, a Global Fund press release reports.

21 Oct 2011

Starting HIV therapy within two weeks of TB treatment increases survival by 33%

Timing is everything when treating patients with both HIV and tuberculosis. Starting HIV therapy in such patients within two weeks of TB treatment, rather than two months as is the current practice, increases survival by 33 percent, according to a large-scale clinical trial in Cambodia led by researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and the Immune Disease Institute.

20 Oct 2011

CWRU to lead Cornea Preservation Time Study

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine will lead a national study determining if corneas transplanted up to two weeks after donor death work as well as corneas transplanted up to one week after donor death. The National Eye Institute has awarded a $12.3 million grant to support the work.

20 Oct 2011

Study examines potential benefits of discordant couple HIV therapy

A new study published online in the journal AIDS uses mathematical models to predict the potential impact of treating discordant couples with antiretroviral therapy, according to a Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health press release.

20 Oct 2011

Tenofovir gel shows promise against HSV infection

HIV infection is commonly associated with other sexual infections, such as herpes simplex virus (HSV). Infection with HSV facilitates the risk of HIV infection and negatively impacts the clinical course of HIV disease. Therefore, it would be highly beneficial to identify multi-faceted microbicide compounds that are efficient against HIV-1 and other sexually transmitted infections.

20 Oct 2011

HIV advocates in Uganda 'losing faith' as country works to prevent, treat new infections, PlusNews reports

PlusNews examines how "corruption scandals, frequent treatment shortages and accusations of a misguided prevention program" have undermined progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Uganda, a country that had "won plaudits in the early days of the epidemic for the aggressive stance taken by President Yoweri Museveni." Uganda "lowered its HIV prevalence from 18 percent in the early 1990s to about six percent in 2000," the news service notes.

20 Oct 2011

Russia pledges money to support HIV, TB programs in neighboring countries

"Russia plans to step up its international role in fighting infectious disease across eastern Europe and central Asia, in what some observers see as the latest effort by the Kremlin to reassert its political influence over its former Soviet neighbors," the Financial Times reports.

19 Oct 2011

Acute HCV screening strategy for HIV-infected individuals

Researchers at The Miriam Hospital demonstrated a practical strategy for regularly screening HIV-infected patients for acute hepatitis C virus infection (HCV), a "silent epidemic" that is rising undetected in this population and can lead to serious health complications.

19 Oct 2011