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Baton Rouge ranked number-one among Metropolitan Statistical Areas for its rate of AIDS diagnoses in 2010 - 33.7 diagnoses per 100,000 population, CDC data show. The ranking does not surprise the Rev. A.J. Johnson, executive director of the Baton Rouge AIDS Society (BRAS). The nine-parish area has ranked high for years, he said.
The key thing people can do to prevent new infections and keep HIV from developing into AIDS is to get tested and “know your status,” Johnson said. Prevention also requires ongoing messaging, something Baton Rouge needs, he said.
Area faith-based groups need to step up their outreach and spread information about testing and prevention, Johnson said. “I’m not talking about financial support, although we always need that, but for faith-based communities to start talking about HIV, especially in the black community,” he added.
Tim Young, executive director of the HIV/AIDS Alliance for Region Two, agreed with Johnson about more people needing to be educated about ways to prevent HIV/AIDS. Whether it is at a doctor’s office or one of the city’s numerous testing sites, young people should get tested, he stressed.
BRAS offers free testing 4-6 p.m. on Wednesdays at its center, 4560 North Blvd. For more information about BRAS testing, which is available during other hours for a fee, call 225-923-2437. Additional testing sites include the HIV/AIDS Alliance, 4550 North Blvd.; Metro Health Education, 950 E. Washington St.; Family Service of Greater Baton Rouge, 4727 Revere Ave.; and Capitol City Family Health Center, 3140 Florida St.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
Monday, March 19, 2012
Incorrect Condom Use Is 'Common'
A study by international researchers finds 14 common usage errors with condoms hampers their efficacy against STDs and pregnancy.
The analysis of 50 studies of sex workers, STI clinic attendees, monogamous married couples, university students, and adolescents spanning 14 countries between 1995 and 2011 revealed problems including:
*late application (17 percent to 51 percent);
*early removal (13 percent to 44.7 percent);
*failure to fully unroll the condom;
*incorrect storage;
*condom re-use;
*completely unrolling before applying to the penis (25.3 percent) rather than unrolling on the penis;
*failure to leave space for semen collection (24.3 percent to 45.7 percent);
*inside-out application that is then reversed (4 percent to 30.4 percent);
*exposure to sharp objects (like teeth) during package removal (2.1 percent to 11.2 percent); and
*not checking for damage before use (74.5 percent of men and 82.7 percent of women).
According to lead researcher Stephanie Sanders of Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction, “closing the gap” between typical and perfect condom use is essential to “greatly reducing the epidemics of STIs and unintended pregnancies.”
Researchers acknowledge the study is limited by the wide variation of problems reported in the 50 studies analyzed, as well as by the majority presence of studies from developed countries primarily in North America.
Although researchers note “more research is needed on condom use errors and problems in a wider range of countries,” they suggest the problems cited “may be affecting millions of people.” For example, “re-use of condoms ... may be more common in less economically developed countries or among the poor.”
“Collecting data on condom use errors and problems among a larger diversity of populations may help better inform condom intervention strategies tailored to those populations,” said the researchers.
The study, “Condom Use Errors and Problems: A Global View,” was published in Sexual Health (2012;9:81-95).
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
The analysis of 50 studies of sex workers, STI clinic attendees, monogamous married couples, university students, and adolescents spanning 14 countries between 1995 and 2011 revealed problems including:
*late application (17 percent to 51 percent);
*early removal (13 percent to 44.7 percent);
*failure to fully unroll the condom;
*incorrect storage;
*condom re-use;
*completely unrolling before applying to the penis (25.3 percent) rather than unrolling on the penis;
*failure to leave space for semen collection (24.3 percent to 45.7 percent);
*inside-out application that is then reversed (4 percent to 30.4 percent);
*exposure to sharp objects (like teeth) during package removal (2.1 percent to 11.2 percent); and
*not checking for damage before use (74.5 percent of men and 82.7 percent of women).
According to lead researcher Stephanie Sanders of Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction, “closing the gap” between typical and perfect condom use is essential to “greatly reducing the epidemics of STIs and unintended pregnancies.”
Researchers acknowledge the study is limited by the wide variation of problems reported in the 50 studies analyzed, as well as by the majority presence of studies from developed countries primarily in North America.
Although researchers note “more research is needed on condom use errors and problems in a wider range of countries,” they suggest the problems cited “may be affecting millions of people.” For example, “re-use of condoms ... may be more common in less economically developed countries or among the poor.”
“Collecting data on condom use errors and problems among a larger diversity of populations may help better inform condom intervention strategies tailored to those populations,” said the researchers.
The study, “Condom Use Errors and Problems: A Global View,” was published in Sexual Health (2012;9:81-95).
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
Utah Governor Vetoes Abstinence-Only Education Bill
Gov. Gary Herbert announced Friday evening he vetoed a bill that would have required that only abstinence be taught in schools that offer sex education. Under HB 363, teachers would have been unable to discuss contraception, premarital sex or homosexuality. School districts would not have been required to offer any sex education curricula.
The bill went too far in restricting parents’ choice of how their children learn about sexual activity, said Herbert. School-based sex education should supplement, not replace, lessons taught at home, he said. “In order for parents to take on more responsibility, they need more information, more involvement, and more choice, not less,” he said.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Bill Wright (R-Holden), said during the legislative session that teens need to know that only abstinence is guaranteed to avoid STDs and pregnancy.
“The veto was the right choice, and Utah Democrats support it,” said Jim Dabakis, the state Democratic Party chair. “But the attempt to hush up the veto by doing it late on a Friday night was not the way to handle this.”
The Utah Parent-Teachers Association led opposition against the bill, fighting it during the session and encouraging its members to send e-mails to the governor. After the Legislature adjourned, momentum grew and residents critical of the bill stated their opposition through phone calls, online petitions, and protests at the Capitol. Existing law allows students to learn about contraception and its risks, opponents said.
The Legislature would need to go into session and garner a two-thirds vote to override the veto.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
The bill went too far in restricting parents’ choice of how their children learn about sexual activity, said Herbert. School-based sex education should supplement, not replace, lessons taught at home, he said. “In order for parents to take on more responsibility, they need more information, more involvement, and more choice, not less,” he said.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Bill Wright (R-Holden), said during the legislative session that teens need to know that only abstinence is guaranteed to avoid STDs and pregnancy.
“The veto was the right choice, and Utah Democrats support it,” said Jim Dabakis, the state Democratic Party chair. “But the attempt to hush up the veto by doing it late on a Friday night was not the way to handle this.”
The Utah Parent-Teachers Association led opposition against the bill, fighting it during the session and encouraging its members to send e-mails to the governor. After the Legislature adjourned, momentum grew and residents critical of the bill stated their opposition through phone calls, online petitions, and protests at the Capitol. Existing law allows students to learn about contraception and its risks, opponents said.
The Legislature would need to go into session and garner a two-thirds vote to override the veto.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
Grant Colfax Named Director of White House Office of National AIDS Policy
President Obama has appointed Dr. Grant Colfax to be director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP). Dr. Colfax succeeds Jeffrey Crowley, who announced his resignation in November.
“Dr. Colfax has been instrumental in the decline of new HIV infections in San Francisco in recent years,” said San Francisco AIDS Foundation CEO Neil Giuliano. “His unique blend of experience serving on the front lines of the epidemic, implementing the national strategy at the local level, working as a direct service provider within the Ryan White CARE system, and conducting cutting-edge research makes him the right person at the right time to lead the Obama administration's efforts to end HIV/AIDS in the United States.”
As director of the HIV Prevention and Research Section at the San Francisco Department of Public Health, Colfax was known for elevating the role of community-based health research in local planning and funding decisions and implementing innovative, evidence-based HIV prevention tools, such as assessing community viral load and improving HIV testing and linkage to care, making San Francisco's HIV prevention and service system an example for other cities across the nation to follow.
Throughout his career, he also maintained his role as a physician at Ward 86 at San Francisco General Hospital, the nation's first HIV/AIDS-specialized clinic.
“Having worked closely with him on complex issues and having seen his consensus-building skills among diverse populations, including communities of color, I am confident that the AIDS community will have a strong advocate within the administration,” said Ernest Hopkins, director of legislative affairs at San Francisco AIDS Foundation. “I know Dr. Colfax will work to ensure that the coming changes to our health care system are made thoughtfully, carefully, and with a strong focus on improving the health status of the most vulnerable people.”
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
“Dr. Colfax has been instrumental in the decline of new HIV infections in San Francisco in recent years,” said San Francisco AIDS Foundation CEO Neil Giuliano. “His unique blend of experience serving on the front lines of the epidemic, implementing the national strategy at the local level, working as a direct service provider within the Ryan White CARE system, and conducting cutting-edge research makes him the right person at the right time to lead the Obama administration's efforts to end HIV/AIDS in the United States.”
As director of the HIV Prevention and Research Section at the San Francisco Department of Public Health, Colfax was known for elevating the role of community-based health research in local planning and funding decisions and implementing innovative, evidence-based HIV prevention tools, such as assessing community viral load and improving HIV testing and linkage to care, making San Francisco's HIV prevention and service system an example for other cities across the nation to follow.
Throughout his career, he also maintained his role as a physician at Ward 86 at San Francisco General Hospital, the nation's first HIV/AIDS-specialized clinic.
“Having worked closely with him on complex issues and having seen his consensus-building skills among diverse populations, including communities of color, I am confident that the AIDS community will have a strong advocate within the administration,” said Ernest Hopkins, director of legislative affairs at San Francisco AIDS Foundation. “I know Dr. Colfax will work to ensure that the coming changes to our health care system are made thoughtfully, carefully, and with a strong focus on improving the health status of the most vulnerable people.”
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
Vorinostat Helps Purge Hidden HIV Virus
A team of researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has successfully flushed latent HIV from hiding, with a drug used to treat certain types of lymphoma. In recent years, eliminating latent HIV in the immune system has been thought to be critical to finding a cure for HIV. The results were presented at the 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Seattle, Washington.
The new study, led by David Margolis, MD, professor of medicine, microbiology and immunology, and epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is the first to demonstrate that the biological mechanism that keeps the HIV virus hidden and protected from current antiviral therapies can be targeted and interrupted in humans, providing new hope for a strategy to eradicate HIV completely.
In a clinical trial, six HIV-infected men who were medically stable on antiretroviral drugs, received vorinostat an oncology drug. Recent studies by Margolis and others have shown that vorinostat also attacks the enzymes that keep HIV hiding in certain CD4+ T-cells, the immune system cells that the virus uses to replicate. Within hours of receiving the vorinostat, all six patients had a significant increase in HIV RNA in these cells, evidence that the virus was being forced out of its hiding place.
“This proves for the first time that there are ways to specifically treat viral latency, the first step towards curing HIV infection,” said Margolis. “It shows that this class of drugs, HDAC inhibitors, can attack persistent virus. Vorinostat may not be the magic bullet, but this success shows us a new way to test drugs to target latency, and suggests that we can build a path that may lead to a cure.”
To read more, please visit: http://www.sciguru.com/newsitem/13155/Drug-Vorinostat-helps-purge-hidden-HIV-virus-study-shows.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
The new study, led by David Margolis, MD, professor of medicine, microbiology and immunology, and epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is the first to demonstrate that the biological mechanism that keeps the HIV virus hidden and protected from current antiviral therapies can be targeted and interrupted in humans, providing new hope for a strategy to eradicate HIV completely.
In a clinical trial, six HIV-infected men who were medically stable on antiretroviral drugs, received vorinostat an oncology drug. Recent studies by Margolis and others have shown that vorinostat also attacks the enzymes that keep HIV hiding in certain CD4+ T-cells, the immune system cells that the virus uses to replicate. Within hours of receiving the vorinostat, all six patients had a significant increase in HIV RNA in these cells, evidence that the virus was being forced out of its hiding place.
“This proves for the first time that there are ways to specifically treat viral latency, the first step towards curing HIV infection,” said Margolis. “It shows that this class of drugs, HDAC inhibitors, can attack persistent virus. Vorinostat may not be the magic bullet, but this success shows us a new way to test drugs to target latency, and suggests that we can build a path that may lead to a cure.”
To read more, please visit: http://www.sciguru.com/newsitem/13155/Drug-Vorinostat-helps-purge-hidden-HIV-virus-study-shows.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
Expanded Access Program for Dolutegravir
ViiV Healthcare recently announced that the dolutegravir Expanded Access Program (EAP) is now open and accepting participants in the U.S. and Canada.
Dolutegravir (DTG) is an integrase inhibitor under development as a treatment for HIV-1 infection. Phase 2b data presented at the recent CROI meeting in Seattle showed that dolutegravir administered once daily with two NRTIs was associated with good treatment responses at all doses. Those who were on the 50 mg dolutegravir dose and had a viral load of less than 50 copies (undetectable) at 96 weeks (88%) compared favorably with those on Sustiva (72%).
The EAP has been designed to provide access to Shionogi-ViiV Healthcare’s dolutegravir in an open-label protocol program to adults living with HIV who have documented Isentress (raltegravir) or elvitegravir resistance, who have limited treatment options, and who require DTG to construct a viable antiretroviral regimen for therapy.
For Europe and the International region, it's expected that the EAP will start to open in March/April 2012 as local regulatory and ethics approvals are obtained. For more information, please visit: http://www.dolutegravir-eap.com.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
Dolutegravir (DTG) is an integrase inhibitor under development as a treatment for HIV-1 infection. Phase 2b data presented at the recent CROI meeting in Seattle showed that dolutegravir administered once daily with two NRTIs was associated with good treatment responses at all doses. Those who were on the 50 mg dolutegravir dose and had a viral load of less than 50 copies (undetectable) at 96 weeks (88%) compared favorably with those on Sustiva (72%).
The EAP has been designed to provide access to Shionogi-ViiV Healthcare’s dolutegravir in an open-label protocol program to adults living with HIV who have documented Isentress (raltegravir) or elvitegravir resistance, who have limited treatment options, and who require DTG to construct a viable antiretroviral regimen for therapy.
For Europe and the International region, it's expected that the EAP will start to open in March/April 2012 as local regulatory and ethics approvals are obtained. For more information, please visit: http://www.dolutegravir-eap.com.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
Study Finds 25% of Adults with HIV Were Abused as Children
One in four HIV patients was found to have been sexually abused as a child, according to a two-year Duke University study of more than 600 HIV patients. Traumatic childhood experiences were also linked to worse health outcomes among these patients, who were aged 20 to 71.
The study appears in the April 1 edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. The research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health.
More than half of the participants in the Coping with HIV/AIDS in the Southeast (CHASE) study had experienced sexual or physical abuse in their lifetimes, according to researchers from the Duke Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research (CHPIR). Half of the patients had experienced three or more lifetime traumatic experiences in addition to sexual or physical abuse.
“For whatever outcome we looked at, psychological trauma ended up being a predictor of worse medical outcomes and poorer health-related behaviors,” said lead author Brian Pence, a Duke associate professor of community and family medicine and global health.
Through periodic follow-ups over a two-year period, the study made important links between traumatic experiences, HIV-related behaviors, and worse health outcomes. More lifetime traumatic experiences were associated with instances of unprotected sex, missing antiretroviral medications, recent emergency room visits, and hospitalizations. Those patients who had experienced trauma were more likely to see their health decline or to die during the study period.
Pence said these findings highlight the importance of assessing trauma history in patients receiving HIV care. The researchers hope the results can be used to inform the way HIV treatment programs are developed so they promote safer sex practices, optimal drug adherence, and better health outcomes for HIV-infected individuals.
“We would expect people with a history of exposure to trauma to have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression or other mental health concerns, like drug abuse or poor coping skills, and that these things in turn would more fully explain why they had lower adherence to their medications and worse health,” Pence said. “But, we found that trauma history was still associated with bad health outcomes independent of mental health status, drug use, or coping styles. So we have more to learn about exactly how past traumatic experiences exert influence on behaviors and health outcomes years down the road.”
“We hope that this study spurs further research into understanding how early trauma affects behaviors and health much later in life,” Pence said. “Regardless of the reason, past trauma certainly seems to influence how HIV patients engage in their medical care and how they end up doing clinically.”
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
The study appears in the April 1 edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. The research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health.
More than half of the participants in the Coping with HIV/AIDS in the Southeast (CHASE) study had experienced sexual or physical abuse in their lifetimes, according to researchers from the Duke Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research (CHPIR). Half of the patients had experienced three or more lifetime traumatic experiences in addition to sexual or physical abuse.
“For whatever outcome we looked at, psychological trauma ended up being a predictor of worse medical outcomes and poorer health-related behaviors,” said lead author Brian Pence, a Duke associate professor of community and family medicine and global health.
Through periodic follow-ups over a two-year period, the study made important links between traumatic experiences, HIV-related behaviors, and worse health outcomes. More lifetime traumatic experiences were associated with instances of unprotected sex, missing antiretroviral medications, recent emergency room visits, and hospitalizations. Those patients who had experienced trauma were more likely to see their health decline or to die during the study period.
Pence said these findings highlight the importance of assessing trauma history in patients receiving HIV care. The researchers hope the results can be used to inform the way HIV treatment programs are developed so they promote safer sex practices, optimal drug adherence, and better health outcomes for HIV-infected individuals.
“We would expect people with a history of exposure to trauma to have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression or other mental health concerns, like drug abuse or poor coping skills, and that these things in turn would more fully explain why they had lower adherence to their medications and worse health,” Pence said. “But, we found that trauma history was still associated with bad health outcomes independent of mental health status, drug use, or coping styles. So we have more to learn about exactly how past traumatic experiences exert influence on behaviors and health outcomes years down the road.”
“We hope that this study spurs further research into understanding how early trauma affects behaviors and health much later in life,” Pence said. “Regardless of the reason, past trauma certainly seems to influence how HIV patients engage in their medical care and how they end up doing clinically.”
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
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