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In just two months, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation says it has acquired more than half of the 232,135 signatures needed for a November 2012 ballot measure that would require condom use in adult films produced in Los Angeles County. AHF has three months in which to gather the rest of the signatures.
Although county health officials insist the issue is a state responsibility, “We said from day one that the primary responsibility for public health and disease control stands with L.A. County,” said AHF President Michael Weinstein.
Weinstein would rather the county Board of Supervisors prepare its own legislation: “We are still hoping that they will step up to the plate and do the right thing.” But he added that by its progress so far, AHF has demonstrated that “we have the wherewithal to put this on the ballot, and most people believe we have the wherewithal to enact it at the ballot box.”
The measure, which Weinstein says is supported by voters across age and gender lines, would mandate that adult-film producers obtain a permit from the county Department of Public Health, pay a fee, and enforce condom use during filming. Violators could lose their permit and face civil fines or criminal misdemeanor charges.
The pornography industry maintains its routine HIV testing of actors is sufficient protection, and it says a trial condom requirement in the 1990s hurt sales. Most producers of straight porn subsequently abandoned the practice.
A spokesperson for County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky - whose district encompasses San Fernando Valley, where most porn from L.A. is filmed - reiterated his position that the state should take the lead on this matter. County Department of Public Health Director Dr. Jonathan Fielding declined comment.
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!
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
China to Promote Condoms to Cap HIV/AIDS Cases
China’s State Council, or cabinet, on Wednesday released an action plan to cut new HIV infections, in part by promoting an increase in condom use. By 2015, condoms or condom vending machines should be accessible in 95 percent of hotels and other public areas, and the rate of use among high-risk groups should be 90 percent, the action plan said. No comparative figures were provided for current condom usage.
Though life expectancy for Chinese AIDS patients has improved, prevention work remains “extremely difficult,” the council said. “The present spread of AIDS is still severe; there is widespread discrimination in society; [and] the virus is a serious problem in some areas and amongst high-risk groups,” it said. STDs are on the rise - a worrisome fact, given that most HIV infections in China are transmitted sexually, the council noted.
Objectives to reach by 2015 include bringing “basic control of the rapid rise of the AIDS virus in main areas and main groups of people,” and cutting new infections by 25 percent from 2010 levels, the government said.
To help educate local officials about HIV/AIDS, their knowledge of the disease and ability to promote public education will be incorporated into their annual performance reviews, the government said. At present, 780,000 Chinese live with HIV/AIDS; the government hopes that figure tops out at no more than 1.2 million by 2015.
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!
Though life expectancy for Chinese AIDS patients has improved, prevention work remains “extremely difficult,” the council said. “The present spread of AIDS is still severe; there is widespread discrimination in society; [and] the virus is a serious problem in some areas and amongst high-risk groups,” it said. STDs are on the rise - a worrisome fact, given that most HIV infections in China are transmitted sexually, the council noted.
Objectives to reach by 2015 include bringing “basic control of the rapid rise of the AIDS virus in main areas and main groups of people,” and cutting new infections by 25 percent from 2010 levels, the government said.
To help educate local officials about HIV/AIDS, their knowledge of the disease and ability to promote public education will be incorporated into their annual performance reviews, the government said. At present, 780,000 Chinese live with HIV/AIDS; the government hopes that figure tops out at no more than 1.2 million by 2015.
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!
Review Ordered for Health Pamphlets
New Mexico Department of Health officials are asking personnel at the agency’s 57 health offices to pull printed materials that do not have an updated DOH logo until they can be reviewed and approved. Spokesperson Aimee Barabe said the request was made following news reports that a public health contractor in Roswell had tried to distribute a pamphlet containing graphic images of men engaging in sex acts.
Last month, the worker asked officials at a Job Corps Center in Roswell if she could distribute the pamphlets to persons age 16 or older. Entitled “Safer Sex Can Be Fun,” the brochure depicts oral sex and condom use through photos and drawings. It is intended for gay men, according to the California-based nonprofit that designed it. The center’s director denied the request and discarded the pamphlets; the health department fired the contract worker.
Health Secretary Catherine Torres took action Feb. 14 in response to the reports. “We felt that it was necessary to cull all of the materials for educational purposes from health offices statewide for review to make sure that something like this didn’t happen again,” said Barabe.
That same day, Maggi Gallaher, medical director of the department’s public health division, sent an e-mail to health offices saying that only materials that bear a DOH logo approved in early 2011 should be distributed. “All materials approved under prior administrations need to be approved by the current administration,” she wrote. Officials should “scour closets, storage areas, etc., to gather any and all outdated brochures, pamphlets” and other materials. The review process should be completed by late March, she said.
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!
Last month, the worker asked officials at a Job Corps Center in Roswell if she could distribute the pamphlets to persons age 16 or older. Entitled “Safer Sex Can Be Fun,” the brochure depicts oral sex and condom use through photos and drawings. It is intended for gay men, according to the California-based nonprofit that designed it. The center’s director denied the request and discarded the pamphlets; the health department fired the contract worker.
Health Secretary Catherine Torres took action Feb. 14 in response to the reports. “We felt that it was necessary to cull all of the materials for educational purposes from health offices statewide for review to make sure that something like this didn’t happen again,” said Barabe.
That same day, Maggi Gallaher, medical director of the department’s public health division, sent an e-mail to health offices saying that only materials that bear a DOH logo approved in early 2011 should be distributed. “All materials approved under prior administrations need to be approved by the current administration,” she wrote. Officials should “scour closets, storage areas, etc., to gather any and all outdated brochures, pamphlets” and other materials. The review process should be completed by late March, she said.
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!
Florida's AIDS Drug Program Has the Longest Waiting List in the United States
Advocates are pressing Florida lawmakers to secure additional funding for the state AIDS Drug Assistance Program.
As of Feb. 23, Florida’s ADAP had 1,085 people on its waiting list, the most for any state ADAP in the nation, according to the National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors. “The Florida Senate’s budget proposes an increase for Florida’s ADAP program, but currently there are no recommendations for similar increases from the Florida House of Representatives,” noted the Florida HIV/AIDS Advocacy Network. In response, the network is seeking “to gain support among House members to join the Florida Senate and work together to eliminate the waiting list for Florida ADAP.”
Of those on the waiting list in mid-February, almost half resided in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, according to the state Bureau of HIV/AIDS. While Gov. Rick Scott did not propose additional ADAP funding for 2012-13, his office said “he is looking at the whole program with the goal of reducing unnecessary administrative costs and making it operate more efficiently so that more people can be served with the funds we already have.”
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!
As of Feb. 23, Florida’s ADAP had 1,085 people on its waiting list, the most for any state ADAP in the nation, according to the National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors. “The Florida Senate’s budget proposes an increase for Florida’s ADAP program, but currently there are no recommendations for similar increases from the Florida House of Representatives,” noted the Florida HIV/AIDS Advocacy Network. In response, the network is seeking “to gain support among House members to join the Florida Senate and work together to eliminate the waiting list for Florida ADAP.”
Of those on the waiting list in mid-February, almost half resided in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, according to the state Bureau of HIV/AIDS. While Gov. Rick Scott did not propose additional ADAP funding for 2012-13, his office said “he is looking at the whole program with the goal of reducing unnecessary administrative costs and making it operate more efficiently so that more people can be served with the funds we already have.”
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!
Many African Men Fail to Get HIV Treatment
Sub-Saharan African men do not obtain HIV/AIDS treatment as often as women, and they die prematurely because of it, researchers say.
“There are a lot of men at the testing centers, but yet, you don’t see them at the clinics for antiretroviral care,” said Edward Mills, associate professor and Canada Research Chair of Health Sciences at the University of Ottawa. “Somewhere in between the time of testing and the time of accessing clinical care we’re missing out on these men.”
Mills supervised HIV/AIDS treatment programs in Africa for several years and questioned this gender disparity. For some men, being HIV-positive carries a stigma of wrongdoing connected to having pre-marital sex, visiting sex workers, or having a relationship outside of their marriage, he said. Disease-related shame drives these men to defer treatment and seek ineffective alternatives.
“Men initially try to treat the HIV themselves,” said Mills. “They maybe go to pharmacies and they buy some aspirin or some Tylenol and they don’t want to accept that they’ve got HIV.” Men need more education about HIV and the importance of early treatment, he said.
Male circumcision campaigns could be used as an opportunity to encourage testing and counseling, but broader efforts may be needed to address men who are resistant to accessing health care, as well as women in discordant couples, Mills said.
“In any discordant relationship you would expect the person who is HIV-positive to be the male,” said Mills. “But when you look at the evidence, actually about 50 percent of the time it’s the male and 50 percent of the time it’s the female. So, there are several different interpretations of this, but the best one is it appears that both genders go outside of their marriage.”
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!
“There are a lot of men at the testing centers, but yet, you don’t see them at the clinics for antiretroviral care,” said Edward Mills, associate professor and Canada Research Chair of Health Sciences at the University of Ottawa. “Somewhere in between the time of testing and the time of accessing clinical care we’re missing out on these men.”
Mills supervised HIV/AIDS treatment programs in Africa for several years and questioned this gender disparity. For some men, being HIV-positive carries a stigma of wrongdoing connected to having pre-marital sex, visiting sex workers, or having a relationship outside of their marriage, he said. Disease-related shame drives these men to defer treatment and seek ineffective alternatives.
“Men initially try to treat the HIV themselves,” said Mills. “They maybe go to pharmacies and they buy some aspirin or some Tylenol and they don’t want to accept that they’ve got HIV.” Men need more education about HIV and the importance of early treatment, he said.
Male circumcision campaigns could be used as an opportunity to encourage testing and counseling, but broader efforts may be needed to address men who are resistant to accessing health care, as well as women in discordant couples, Mills said.
“In any discordant relationship you would expect the person who is HIV-positive to be the male,” said Mills. “But when you look at the evidence, actually about 50 percent of the time it’s the male and 50 percent of the time it’s the female. So, there are several different interpretations of this, but the best one is it appears that both genders go outside of their marriage.”
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!
More Money Needed to Guarantee the Availability of ARVs
Burkina Faso’s Network for Access to Essential Medicines (RAME) is urging the government to commit the funding necessary to ensure the uninterrupted supply of AIDS treatment and testing supplies. In January, the government announced an emergency infusion of about 1 billion CFA francs (US $2 million) to procure AIDS drugs.
However, permanent measures are needed, advocates said. Many AIDS associations are no longer putting new patients on ARVs due to limited stock.
“It was good to see the government recognize its responsibility ... but it’s not enough given the need to continue to put new people into treatment regimes as well as maintain care for older patients,” said Simon Kaboré, RAME’s coordinator. Some people died waiting for treatment, and for several months current patients could not get their regular monitoring at health centers, Kaboré said.
If nothing is done by Mar. 31, disruptions will affect both the registration of new patients and those currently in treatment, said André Joseph Tiendrébéogo, permanent secretary of the government’s National Council for the Fight Against AIDS and STIs.
“We stopped new enrollments at the end of 2010, and we have lost a dozen patients because most of those ill who received care for free are in the informal sector and cannot take over the payments,” said Martine Somda of the patient association REVS+, which is based in the western city of Bobo-Dioulasso. For several months, 60 people could not access ARVs due to insufficient stock, Somda said. Testing supplies to evaluate patients on treatment, such as for CD4 count and liver function, also need to be rebuilt, as they are in danger of running short, she said.
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!
However, permanent measures are needed, advocates said. Many AIDS associations are no longer putting new patients on ARVs due to limited stock.
“It was good to see the government recognize its responsibility ... but it’s not enough given the need to continue to put new people into treatment regimes as well as maintain care for older patients,” said Simon Kaboré, RAME’s coordinator. Some people died waiting for treatment, and for several months current patients could not get their regular monitoring at health centers, Kaboré said.
If nothing is done by Mar. 31, disruptions will affect both the registration of new patients and those currently in treatment, said André Joseph Tiendrébéogo, permanent secretary of the government’s National Council for the Fight Against AIDS and STIs.
“We stopped new enrollments at the end of 2010, and we have lost a dozen patients because most of those ill who received care for free are in the informal sector and cannot take over the payments,” said Martine Somda of the patient association REVS+, which is based in the western city of Bobo-Dioulasso. For several months, 60 people could not access ARVs due to insufficient stock, Somda said. Testing supplies to evaluate patients on treatment, such as for CD4 count and liver function, also need to be rebuilt, as they are in danger of running short, she said.
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!
Corbett Budget Maintains AIDS Funding, Big Cuts Elsewhere
Gov. Tom Corbett's recent proposed $27.1 billion state budget includes mostly level funding for HIV/AIDS, with $7.1 million that would be maintained for programs under the state Department of Health (DOH). Funding for the disease, which was cut 25 percent two years ago, covers a comprehensive statewide HIV prevention program that includes community planning, testing and referral services, education, and risk-reduction efforts.
“We are grateful that after previous cuts, our funding in this area was not cut this year,” said Jane Shull, executive director of the HIV/AIDS service organization Philadelphia FIGHT.
“We are confident that the proposed state budget, which maintains funding from last year, will not lead to any reduction in services provided through our HIV/AIDS programs,” said Christine Cronkright, DOH’s director of communications. The funds will be distributed in accordance with the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and CDC guidance on high-impact interventions, she said.
State funding for STD screening and treatment would drop 5 percent under Corbett’s proposal, from $1.82 million to $1.73 million. State universities would take a 20 percent to 30 percent cut, on top of drastic cuts they saw in the last budget. Kevin Burns, executive director of Philadelphia-based Action AIDS, said HIV/AIDS funding could still take a hit as legislators negotiate a lesser cut to education.
“It sets up this scenario where you have all of these systems in the state that are starved for money and, while they should all be fully funded, all of these worthwhile programs end up fighting over a small piece of the pie,” Burns said.
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!
“We are grateful that after previous cuts, our funding in this area was not cut this year,” said Jane Shull, executive director of the HIV/AIDS service organization Philadelphia FIGHT.
“We are confident that the proposed state budget, which maintains funding from last year, will not lead to any reduction in services provided through our HIV/AIDS programs,” said Christine Cronkright, DOH’s director of communications. The funds will be distributed in accordance with the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and CDC guidance on high-impact interventions, she said.
State funding for STD screening and treatment would drop 5 percent under Corbett’s proposal, from $1.82 million to $1.73 million. State universities would take a 20 percent to 30 percent cut, on top of drastic cuts they saw in the last budget. Kevin Burns, executive director of Philadelphia-based Action AIDS, said HIV/AIDS funding could still take a hit as legislators negotiate a lesser cut to education.
“It sets up this scenario where you have all of these systems in the state that are starved for money and, while they should all be fully funded, all of these worthwhile programs end up fighting over a small piece of the pie,” Burns said.
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!
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Possible Cure in Protein That Starves HIV of Needed Building Blocks
Focusing on a protein called SAMHD1, a team of researchers believes it has stumbled upon the mechanism in which some immune system cells keep HIV from hijacking their cellular machinery to produce new virus. The findings, published online ahead of print by the journal Nature Immunology, pave the way for novel methods to treat—and potentially cure—HIV infection.
SAMHD1, the international team of scientists explains, is found in white blood cells known as macrophages and related cells known as dendritic cells. Building upon research published last year, demonstrating that SAMHD1 makes it difficult for HIV to infect macrophages, the scientists have helped close the knowledge gap with the discovery that the protein cuts off the supply line of deoxyribonucleotide triphosphate (dNTP)—the building blocks of DNA—which HIV needs to re-create its genetic contents.
When a virus, like HIV, infects a cell, it hijacks the cell’s dNTP. Once the virus replicates, the resulting DNA molecule contains all the genes of the virus and instructs the cell to make more virus.
SAMHD1, the researchers found, protects the cell from viruses by destroying the pool of dNTPs, leaving the virus without any building blocks to make its genetic information, a process known as nucleotide pool depletion.
“SAMHD1 essentially starves the virus,” explained Nathaniel Landau, PhD, a professor of microbiology at New York University School of Medicine and a lead author of the Nature Immunology paper in an accompanying news announcement. “The virus enters the cell, and then nothing happens. It has nothing to build and replicate with, so no DNA is made.”
As a result, the most common form of HIV—HIV-1—does not readily infect these cells. Instead, the virus has evolved to replicate mainly in CD4 cells, which do not contain SAMHD1 and therefore have a healthy pool of dNTPs.
The virus, the researchers suggest, may have evolved in such a way that it deliberately avoids trying to infect immune cells that have SAMHD1, in order to avoid alerting the greater immune system to activate a variety of antiviral mechanisms to attack the virus.
The team also discovered how a protein in the other form of HIV—HIV-2, which is found mainly in Africa—knocks out SAMHD1. They found that the protein Vpx destroys SAMHD1, clearing the way for HIV-2 to infect macrophages. While scientists have known that HIV-2 needs Vpx to infect macrophages, they hadn’t known precisely why.
Interestingly, while one might think that a virus that is able to replicate itself in crucial cells like macrophages might be more dangerous than one that cannot, that’s not the case with HIV. The researchers note that HIV-2 is generally actually less virulent than HIV-1.
One possible explanation for this is that, like a starving man who becomes increasingly desperate for food, HIV-2—when faced with a shortage of raw materials—puts its mutation capabilities into overdrive, creating the Vpx proteins necessary to circumvent the pathway blocked by SAMHD1.
“Viruses are remarkably clever about evading our immune defenses,” Landau said. “They can evolve quickly and have developed ways to get around the systems we naturally have in place to protect us. It’s a bit of evolutionary warfare, and the viruses, unfortunately, usually win. We want to understand how the enemy fights so that we can outsmart it in the end.”
Understanding the mechanism by which SAMHD1 protects cells may provide a new idea about how to stop or slow the virus’s ability to spread, the researchers explained. Potential future research efforts, for example, might focus on finding a way to increase the amount of SAMHD1 in cells where it does not exist, such as CD4 cells, or to reduce the amount of dNTPs in cells vulnerable to infection.
This could potentially force HIV to remain dormant in all immune system cell lines, unable to replicate—another functional cure strategy.
“Over the past few years, a number of these natural resistance mechanisms have been identified, specifically in HIV,” Landau sad. “This is a very exciting time in HIV research. Many of the virus’s secrets are being revealed through molecular biology, and we’re learning a tremendous amount about how our immune system works through the study of HIV.”
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!
SAMHD1, the international team of scientists explains, is found in white blood cells known as macrophages and related cells known as dendritic cells. Building upon research published last year, demonstrating that SAMHD1 makes it difficult for HIV to infect macrophages, the scientists have helped close the knowledge gap with the discovery that the protein cuts off the supply line of deoxyribonucleotide triphosphate (dNTP)—the building blocks of DNA—which HIV needs to re-create its genetic contents.
When a virus, like HIV, infects a cell, it hijacks the cell’s dNTP. Once the virus replicates, the resulting DNA molecule contains all the genes of the virus and instructs the cell to make more virus.
SAMHD1, the researchers found, protects the cell from viruses by destroying the pool of dNTPs, leaving the virus without any building blocks to make its genetic information, a process known as nucleotide pool depletion.
“SAMHD1 essentially starves the virus,” explained Nathaniel Landau, PhD, a professor of microbiology at New York University School of Medicine and a lead author of the Nature Immunology paper in an accompanying news announcement. “The virus enters the cell, and then nothing happens. It has nothing to build and replicate with, so no DNA is made.”
As a result, the most common form of HIV—HIV-1—does not readily infect these cells. Instead, the virus has evolved to replicate mainly in CD4 cells, which do not contain SAMHD1 and therefore have a healthy pool of dNTPs.
The virus, the researchers suggest, may have evolved in such a way that it deliberately avoids trying to infect immune cells that have SAMHD1, in order to avoid alerting the greater immune system to activate a variety of antiviral mechanisms to attack the virus.
The team also discovered how a protein in the other form of HIV—HIV-2, which is found mainly in Africa—knocks out SAMHD1. They found that the protein Vpx destroys SAMHD1, clearing the way for HIV-2 to infect macrophages. While scientists have known that HIV-2 needs Vpx to infect macrophages, they hadn’t known precisely why.
Interestingly, while one might think that a virus that is able to replicate itself in crucial cells like macrophages might be more dangerous than one that cannot, that’s not the case with HIV. The researchers note that HIV-2 is generally actually less virulent than HIV-1.
One possible explanation for this is that, like a starving man who becomes increasingly desperate for food, HIV-2—when faced with a shortage of raw materials—puts its mutation capabilities into overdrive, creating the Vpx proteins necessary to circumvent the pathway blocked by SAMHD1.
“Viruses are remarkably clever about evading our immune defenses,” Landau said. “They can evolve quickly and have developed ways to get around the systems we naturally have in place to protect us. It’s a bit of evolutionary warfare, and the viruses, unfortunately, usually win. We want to understand how the enemy fights so that we can outsmart it in the end.”
Understanding the mechanism by which SAMHD1 protects cells may provide a new idea about how to stop or slow the virus’s ability to spread, the researchers explained. Potential future research efforts, for example, might focus on finding a way to increase the amount of SAMHD1 in cells where it does not exist, such as CD4 cells, or to reduce the amount of dNTPs in cells vulnerable to infection.
This could potentially force HIV to remain dormant in all immune system cell lines, unable to replicate—another functional cure strategy.
“Over the past few years, a number of these natural resistance mechanisms have been identified, specifically in HIV,” Landau sad. “This is a very exciting time in HIV research. Many of the virus’s secrets are being revealed through molecular biology, and we’re learning a tremendous amount about how our immune system works through the study of HIV.”
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!
HIV Therapeutic Vaccine Developer Reports Encouraging Results
February 23, 2012
HIV Therapeutic Vaccine Developer Reports Encouraging Results
Vacc-4x, an experimental therapeutic HIV vaccine, helps reduce viral load among people living with HIV remaining off antiretroviral (ARV) therapy for six months, compared with those who didn’t receive the vaccine, according to preliminary results from a clinical trial highlighted in a news announcement by the compound’s developer Bionor Pharma.
“Final review of Phase IIb data confirms statistically significant 64 percent reduction of viral load set point”—the average of the last two viral load measurements before the end of the study—“in patients receiving Vacc-4x compared to those given placebo, indicating a possible new option for patients and doctors,” Bionor writes. “The HIV viral load set point in patients given Vacc-4x was 60 percent lower than [pre-HIV treatment levels]. In the placebo group, no change compared to pre-[ARV levels] was observed.”
Therapeutic vaccines have long been eyed as a valuable contribution to the HIV treatment tool chest. Therapeutic vaccines—few of which have made it into advanced clinical trials—may have the potential to “functionally” cure HIV. By training the immune system to more effectively respond to the virus, it may be possible to push viral loads down to very low levels, thereby reducing the risk of health complications and slowing the ongoing spread of the virus while also reducing the need for daily medications.
The new study results reported by Bionor—which still need to be published in a peer-reviewed medical journal—suggest that it may in fact be possible to teach the immune system to at least partially control HIV replication in some people living with the virus.
Bionor’s study enrolled 136 people living with HIV who were receiving ARV therapy and who had undetectable viral loads for at least six months and a pretrial CD4 count no less than 400.
During the first 18 weeks of the study, 88 participants received six doses of Vacc-4x and 38 received placebos—in addition to their prescribed ARV regimens. Then ARV therapy alone was continued for another 10 weeks. At the beginning of week 28, provided that study volunteers had CD4 counts above 350, all HIV meds were discontinued. And as long as a patient’s CD4 count didn’t fall below 350 or drop 50 percent or more, he or she remained off treatment through the final 52nd week of the study and into an extended follow-up period lasting another year.
A primary goal of the study was to compare the time ARV treatment needed to be resumed between the two study groups. Here, according to preliminary data reported at the AIDS Vaccine 2011 conference in Bangkok in September, no significant difference was reported. Across the board, when looking at all people in the study, those using placebo were no more likely to require resuming therapy, compared with those in the Vacc-4x group, between weeks 28 and 52. The majority of patients in both groups were able to remain off treatment for roughly six months.
A second goal of the study was to look at viral load levels among those who actually made it through week 52 without having to restart ARV treatment. Among the 56 patients in the Vacc-4x group who met this qualification, the average viral load at week 52 was 22,300 copies. Among the 25 patients in the placebo group who didn’t need to restart therapy, the average viral load at week 52 was 61,900 copies. This difference between the two groups was statistically significant, meaning it was too great to have occurred by chance.
Also highlighted in the Bionor announcement was a comparison involving only those who hadn’t yet started ARV therapy at the time of joining the study and, thus, had detectable viral loads. The 18 placebo recipients who met this qualification had no statistically significant difference between pre-ARV therapy viral load (52,731 copies) and the viral load set point at the completion of the study (50,400 copies). In contrast, the 45 patients in Vacc-4x group who qualified for the comparison had an average pre-ARV therapy viral load of 60,470 copies, compared with 24,150 copies at study completion—a statistically significant reduction of 60 percent.
Bionor says it plans to build upon these findings with additional studies. For example, the company plans to re-vaccinate Vacc-4x recipients to see if the viral set point can be reduced even further. “Such an approach may eventually form a functional cure,” the company notes, “meaning that HIV viral load is gradually reduced to lower levels following successive [antiretroviral treatment]-free periods.”
The company is also planning to combine Vacc-4x with another of its vaccine candidates, Vacc-C5. “Vacc-C5 is designed to induce antibodies to HIV that can reduce HIV associated immune hyperactivation, which leads to AIDS,” Bionor explains. “Preclinical studies have shown that Vacc-C5 successfully induced antibodies against HIV in animal models such as rabbits and sheep.”
Bionor plans to begin the first human study of Vacc-C5 this spring. Using both vaccine candidates together, the company theorizes, “can potentially revolutionize the management of HIV infections and could form the basis for both a therapeutic and a [preventive] vaccine.”
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!
HIV Therapeutic Vaccine Developer Reports Encouraging Results
Vacc-4x, an experimental therapeutic HIV vaccine, helps reduce viral load among people living with HIV remaining off antiretroviral (ARV) therapy for six months, compared with those who didn’t receive the vaccine, according to preliminary results from a clinical trial highlighted in a news announcement by the compound’s developer Bionor Pharma.
“Final review of Phase IIb data confirms statistically significant 64 percent reduction of viral load set point”—the average of the last two viral load measurements before the end of the study—“in patients receiving Vacc-4x compared to those given placebo, indicating a possible new option for patients and doctors,” Bionor writes. “The HIV viral load set point in patients given Vacc-4x was 60 percent lower than [pre-HIV treatment levels]. In the placebo group, no change compared to pre-[ARV levels] was observed.”
Therapeutic vaccines have long been eyed as a valuable contribution to the HIV treatment tool chest. Therapeutic vaccines—few of which have made it into advanced clinical trials—may have the potential to “functionally” cure HIV. By training the immune system to more effectively respond to the virus, it may be possible to push viral loads down to very low levels, thereby reducing the risk of health complications and slowing the ongoing spread of the virus while also reducing the need for daily medications.
The new study results reported by Bionor—which still need to be published in a peer-reviewed medical journal—suggest that it may in fact be possible to teach the immune system to at least partially control HIV replication in some people living with the virus.
Bionor’s study enrolled 136 people living with HIV who were receiving ARV therapy and who had undetectable viral loads for at least six months and a pretrial CD4 count no less than 400.
During the first 18 weeks of the study, 88 participants received six doses of Vacc-4x and 38 received placebos—in addition to their prescribed ARV regimens. Then ARV therapy alone was continued for another 10 weeks. At the beginning of week 28, provided that study volunteers had CD4 counts above 350, all HIV meds were discontinued. And as long as a patient’s CD4 count didn’t fall below 350 or drop 50 percent or more, he or she remained off treatment through the final 52nd week of the study and into an extended follow-up period lasting another year.
A primary goal of the study was to compare the time ARV treatment needed to be resumed between the two study groups. Here, according to preliminary data reported at the AIDS Vaccine 2011 conference in Bangkok in September, no significant difference was reported. Across the board, when looking at all people in the study, those using placebo were no more likely to require resuming therapy, compared with those in the Vacc-4x group, between weeks 28 and 52. The majority of patients in both groups were able to remain off treatment for roughly six months.
A second goal of the study was to look at viral load levels among those who actually made it through week 52 without having to restart ARV treatment. Among the 56 patients in the Vacc-4x group who met this qualification, the average viral load at week 52 was 22,300 copies. Among the 25 patients in the placebo group who didn’t need to restart therapy, the average viral load at week 52 was 61,900 copies. This difference between the two groups was statistically significant, meaning it was too great to have occurred by chance.
Also highlighted in the Bionor announcement was a comparison involving only those who hadn’t yet started ARV therapy at the time of joining the study and, thus, had detectable viral loads. The 18 placebo recipients who met this qualification had no statistically significant difference between pre-ARV therapy viral load (52,731 copies) and the viral load set point at the completion of the study (50,400 copies). In contrast, the 45 patients in Vacc-4x group who qualified for the comparison had an average pre-ARV therapy viral load of 60,470 copies, compared with 24,150 copies at study completion—a statistically significant reduction of 60 percent.
Bionor says it plans to build upon these findings with additional studies. For example, the company plans to re-vaccinate Vacc-4x recipients to see if the viral set point can be reduced even further. “Such an approach may eventually form a functional cure,” the company notes, “meaning that HIV viral load is gradually reduced to lower levels following successive [antiretroviral treatment]-free periods.”
The company is also planning to combine Vacc-4x with another of its vaccine candidates, Vacc-C5. “Vacc-C5 is designed to induce antibodies to HIV that can reduce HIV associated immune hyperactivation, which leads to AIDS,” Bionor explains. “Preclinical studies have shown that Vacc-C5 successfully induced antibodies against HIV in animal models such as rabbits and sheep.”
Bionor plans to begin the first human study of Vacc-C5 this spring. Using both vaccine candidates together, the company theorizes, “can potentially revolutionize the management of HIV infections and could form the basis for both a therapeutic and a [preventive] vaccine.”
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.
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HIV Treatment Decreases Bone Fracture Risk, Compared With Those Not on Therapy
Compared with people living with HIV and not being treated for it, those using antiretroviral (ARV) therapy are less likely to experience a fracture related to frail bones, according to a research paper authored by Linda Mundy, MD, of GlaxoSmithKline and her colleagues, published ahead of print by the journal AIDS.
The report’s findings, notably that tenofovir (found in Viread, Truvada, Atripla and Complera) is associated with a reduced risk of bone fracture and that protease inhibitors have little effects on the risk one way or the other, are at odds with other recent papers. In addition to studies noting higher rates of osteopenia (mild/moderate bone mineral loss) and osteoporosis (significant bone mineral loss) among people living with HIV using these drugs, increased rates of wrist, back and hip fractures have also been observed.
In fact, a conflicting report is running alongside Mundy's article via the AIDS journal website. This report, authored by Veterans Health Administration investigators, included final data from a study originally presented in July at the 6th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Rome. The investigators conclude that tenofovir and some protease inhibitors are associated with an increased fracture risk.
The analysis conducted by Mundy’s group included 59,594 people living with HIV receiving care between January 1997 and March 2008; they were identified using a private administrative claims database.
Roughly half the patients included in the analysis had not received any ARVs. Among the 29,179 with no ARV experience, the average age was 39 and 58 percent were men. Among those who had been treated with ARVs, the average age was 42 and roughly 85 percent were men. Of note, those who never took ARVs were more likely to have experienced a past bone fracture (3.4 versus 0.7 percent) and less likely to have low body weight (4.3 percent versus 11.4 percent).
The final population selected for the comparison involved 2,477 individuals who experienced a fracture and 9,144 who did not during the 11-year study period.
The risk of bone fracture was higher, statistically speaking, among patients with traditional risk factors, including prior fractures, low physical activity, excess alcohol use, low body weight, hepatitis C coinfection and advanced HIV infection.
As for the risk associated with ARV therapy, Mundy’s team found that those on treatment during the study period had a fracture risk that was about 36 percent lower than those who did not receive ARV therapy.
The decreased risk became more substantial with time, notably with the use of nucleoside and non-nucleoside drug classes. For example, compared with those not receiving ARV treatment, the risk of a bone fracture was reduced by 17 percent during the first five months of nucleoside reverse transcriptase (NRTI) treatment. Among those who had been on NRTIs for at least 20 months, the risk was reduced nearly 50 percent.
Protease inhibitor (PI) use had a null effect, at least during the first 18 months of treatment with this class of drugs. In other words, PIs neither lowered nor heightened the risk of bone fracture, compared with study subjects not using ARV therapy. Only after 18 months of treatment was a deviation noted—a 16 percent decrease in the risk of a fracture, compared with those not using ARV treatment.
In terms of specific drugs, the PIs Prezista (darunavir) and Invirase (saquinavir) and the non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) Rescriptor (delavirdine) were associated with an increased risk of bone fractures.
ARVs that had no or uncertain effects included the PIs Reyataz (atazanavir), Lexiva (fosamprenavir), Kaletra (lopinavir/ritonavir), Crixivan (indinavir), Viracept (nelfinavir), Norvir (ritonavir) and Aptivus (tipranavir); the NRTIs abacavir (found in Ziagen, Epzicom and Trizivir), Videx (didanosine) and Zerit (stavudine); and the entry inhibitor Fuzeon (enfuvirtide).
ARVs associated with a decreased risk of bone fracture included the NNRTIs efavirenz (found in Sustiva and Atripla) and Viramune (nevirapine) and the NRTIs Emtriva (emtricitabine), Epivir (lamivudine), zidovudine (found in Retrovir, Combivir and Trizivir) and tenofovir.
Looking specifically at tenofovir, which has been linked to lower bone mineral density and has also been associated with an increased risk of bone fractures in other studies, Mundy’s team found a continual decrease in the risk. During the first four months of tenofovir treatment, the risk of a bone fracture was reduced by roughly 17 percent, whereas it was reduced by about 35 percent after 17 months of treatment.
“Together,” Mundy’s team concludes, “these drug-specific exposure-response relationships suggest an overall benefit of ARV treatment relative to the estimate of risk for fracture in subjects without ARV treatment.”
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.
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Source: POZ - by Tim Horn
The report’s findings, notably that tenofovir (found in Viread, Truvada, Atripla and Complera) is associated with a reduced risk of bone fracture and that protease inhibitors have little effects on the risk one way or the other, are at odds with other recent papers. In addition to studies noting higher rates of osteopenia (mild/moderate bone mineral loss) and osteoporosis (significant bone mineral loss) among people living with HIV using these drugs, increased rates of wrist, back and hip fractures have also been observed.
In fact, a conflicting report is running alongside Mundy's article via the AIDS journal website. This report, authored by Veterans Health Administration investigators, included final data from a study originally presented in July at the 6th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Rome. The investigators conclude that tenofovir and some protease inhibitors are associated with an increased fracture risk.
The analysis conducted by Mundy’s group included 59,594 people living with HIV receiving care between January 1997 and March 2008; they were identified using a private administrative claims database.
Roughly half the patients included in the analysis had not received any ARVs. Among the 29,179 with no ARV experience, the average age was 39 and 58 percent were men. Among those who had been treated with ARVs, the average age was 42 and roughly 85 percent were men. Of note, those who never took ARVs were more likely to have experienced a past bone fracture (3.4 versus 0.7 percent) and less likely to have low body weight (4.3 percent versus 11.4 percent).
The final population selected for the comparison involved 2,477 individuals who experienced a fracture and 9,144 who did not during the 11-year study period.
The risk of bone fracture was higher, statistically speaking, among patients with traditional risk factors, including prior fractures, low physical activity, excess alcohol use, low body weight, hepatitis C coinfection and advanced HIV infection.
As for the risk associated with ARV therapy, Mundy’s team found that those on treatment during the study period had a fracture risk that was about 36 percent lower than those who did not receive ARV therapy.
The decreased risk became more substantial with time, notably with the use of nucleoside and non-nucleoside drug classes. For example, compared with those not receiving ARV treatment, the risk of a bone fracture was reduced by 17 percent during the first five months of nucleoside reverse transcriptase (NRTI) treatment. Among those who had been on NRTIs for at least 20 months, the risk was reduced nearly 50 percent.
Protease inhibitor (PI) use had a null effect, at least during the first 18 months of treatment with this class of drugs. In other words, PIs neither lowered nor heightened the risk of bone fracture, compared with study subjects not using ARV therapy. Only after 18 months of treatment was a deviation noted—a 16 percent decrease in the risk of a fracture, compared with those not using ARV treatment.
In terms of specific drugs, the PIs Prezista (darunavir) and Invirase (saquinavir) and the non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) Rescriptor (delavirdine) were associated with an increased risk of bone fractures.
ARVs that had no or uncertain effects included the PIs Reyataz (atazanavir), Lexiva (fosamprenavir), Kaletra (lopinavir/ritonavir), Crixivan (indinavir), Viracept (nelfinavir), Norvir (ritonavir) and Aptivus (tipranavir); the NRTIs abacavir (found in Ziagen, Epzicom and Trizivir), Videx (didanosine) and Zerit (stavudine); and the entry inhibitor Fuzeon (enfuvirtide).
ARVs associated with a decreased risk of bone fracture included the NNRTIs efavirenz (found in Sustiva and Atripla) and Viramune (nevirapine) and the NRTIs Emtriva (emtricitabine), Epivir (lamivudine), zidovudine (found in Retrovir, Combivir and Trizivir) and tenofovir.
Looking specifically at tenofovir, which has been linked to lower bone mineral density and has also been associated with an increased risk of bone fractures in other studies, Mundy’s team found a continual decrease in the risk. During the first four months of tenofovir treatment, the risk of a bone fracture was reduced by roughly 17 percent, whereas it was reduced by about 35 percent after 17 months of treatment.
“Together,” Mundy’s team concludes, “these drug-specific exposure-response relationships suggest an overall benefit of ARV treatment relative to the estimate of risk for fracture in subjects without ARV treatment.”
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.
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Source: POZ - by Tim Horn
Basic Errors Putting on Condoms Are Common
Basic errors—such as putting a condom on too late during intercourse or taking it off before intercourse is over—can contribute to breakage or leakage, according to a study in the journal Sexual Health and reported by MSNBC.com.
With perfect use, condoms are 98 percent successful. Researchers at The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University reviewed 50 studies involving diverse groups, such as married couples and sex workers, over a 16-year period. Between 17 percent and 51.1 percent of participants said they had put on a condom partway through intercourse, which negates protection from sexual transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
Richard Crosby, a coauthor of the study, said, “We chronically underestimate how complicated condom use can be.”
To read the MSNBC.com article, visit: http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/26/10511064-condom-use-101-basic-errors-are-so-common-study-finds.
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.
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With perfect use, condoms are 98 percent successful. Researchers at The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University reviewed 50 studies involving diverse groups, such as married couples and sex workers, over a 16-year period. Between 17 percent and 51.1 percent of participants said they had put on a condom partway through intercourse, which negates protection from sexual transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
Richard Crosby, a coauthor of the study, said, “We chronically underestimate how complicated condom use can be.”
To read the MSNBC.com article, visit: http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/26/10511064-condom-use-101-basic-errors-are-so-common-study-finds.
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.
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R.I. Nonprofit to Launch HIV Post-Exposure Prophylaxis Hotline
PL-AIDS—an organization founded and run by former and current Brown University students to raise HIV awareness in Providence, Rhode Island, and southern New England—will launch an HIV post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) hotline, The Brown Daily Herald reports.
The hotline will connect callers with an HIV specialist who will determine whether the person is at risk of contracting HIV and if PEP is a viable option. PEP entails taking HIV meds for about a month immediately following possible exposure to the virus, thus lowering the risk that the exposure leads to an infection.
In addition, in association with the charity, a for-profit production company will release documentaries focusing on HIV issues. One will highlight post-exposure prophylaxis and include interviews with HIV experts. The other will follow the male sex industry in Providence.
To read the Herald article, visit:
http://www.browndailyherald.com/student-founded-nonprofit-tackles-hiv-problems-1.2707283#.T0usE3JSRZ-.
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.
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The hotline will connect callers with an HIV specialist who will determine whether the person is at risk of contracting HIV and if PEP is a viable option. PEP entails taking HIV meds for about a month immediately following possible exposure to the virus, thus lowering the risk that the exposure leads to an infection.
In addition, in association with the charity, a for-profit production company will release documentaries focusing on HIV issues. One will highlight post-exposure prophylaxis and include interviews with HIV experts. The other will follow the male sex industry in Providence.
To read the Herald article, visit:
http://www.browndailyherald.com/student-founded-nonprofit-tackles-hiv-problems-1.2707283#.T0usE3JSRZ-.
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.
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Easier Rules for Illinois ADAP Recipients
A series of rule changes will soon make it easier for 4,200 low-income HIV-positive people in Chicago to get their medications through the Illinois AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), the Windy City Times reports.
The program will no longer require existing recipients to fill out a new application every six months, opting instead for a much less burdensome process of recertification. The changes were advocated by AIDS Legal Council of Chicago and AIDS Foundation of Chicago and approved by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
To read the Windy City Times article, visit: http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/AIDS-Good-news-for-ADAP-recipients-in-Illinois/36174.html.
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.
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The program will no longer require existing recipients to fill out a new application every six months, opting instead for a much less burdensome process of recertification. The changes were advocated by AIDS Legal Council of Chicago and AIDS Foundation of Chicago and approved by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
To read the Windy City Times article, visit: http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/AIDS-Good-news-for-ADAP-recipients-in-Illinois/36174.html.
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!
New Grants to Help HIV-Positive Transgender Women of Color
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has announced two new grant competitions focusing on connecting HIV-positive transgender women of color with health care services, including primary care and HIV-related care, Think Progress reports.
The first grant opportunity will award each of up to eight grantees $300,000 annually for five years. The demonstration sites will develop, implement and evaluate innovative programs designed to connect these women with timely and appropriate care. These programs will also help them stay in touch with providers who can provide a range of primary and HIV-related services.
The second opportunity will fund an evaluation and technical assistance center that will coordinate capacity-building activities, provide technical assistance in clinical and cultural competence around care for HIV-positive transgender women of color, and oversee the dissemination of findings from the demonstration sites. The new grants are part of a growing number of initiatives by the Department of Health and Human Services that specifically focus on transgender people.
To read the Think Progress article, visit: http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/02/22/429709/obama-administration-announces-health-grants-to-help-transgender-population/?mobile=nc.
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.
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The first grant opportunity will award each of up to eight grantees $300,000 annually for five years. The demonstration sites will develop, implement and evaluate innovative programs designed to connect these women with timely and appropriate care. These programs will also help them stay in touch with providers who can provide a range of primary and HIV-related services.
The second opportunity will fund an evaluation and technical assistance center that will coordinate capacity-building activities, provide technical assistance in clinical and cultural competence around care for HIV-positive transgender women of color, and oversee the dissemination of findings from the demonstration sites. The new grants are part of a growing number of initiatives by the Department of Health and Human Services that specifically focus on transgender people.
To read the Think Progress article, visit: http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/02/22/429709/obama-administration-announces-health-grants-to-help-transgender-population/?mobile=nc.
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.
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Global Fund Releases Overdue Grants in South Africa
After seven months of delays, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has released some of the funds it owes to seven South African HIV/AIDS organizations, PlusNews reports.
The $7.1 million in grant money released to the South African treasury on February 6—of which $2.7 million will be disbursed to the seven grantees at the end of February—comprises only half the Global Fund's obligations for the latter half of 2011 and covers only human resource expenses.
It's not known when the remaining 2011 funds or the funds for 2012 will be handed over, though the Global Fund claims that future disbursements should be speedier. The Global Fund and the grantees each blame the other for the funding delays, which have caused a significant interruption in South Africa's HIV/AIDS services and forced the closure of some programs—and may lead to further shutdowns before the crisis is over.
To read the PlusNews article, visit: http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94927&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter.
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 $7.1 million in grant money released to the South African treasury on February 6—of which $2.7 million will be disbursed to the seven grantees at the end of February—comprises only half the Global Fund's obligations for the latter half of 2011 and covers only human resource expenses.
It's not known when the remaining 2011 funds or the funds for 2012 will be handed over, though the Global Fund claims that future disbursements should be speedier. The Global Fund and the grantees each blame the other for the funding delays, which have caused a significant interruption in South Africa's HIV/AIDS services and forced the closure of some programs—and may lead to further shutdowns before the crisis is over.
To read the PlusNews article, visit: http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94927&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter.
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.
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Chinese Court Voids Marriage Due to HIV Nondisclosure
The People’s Court of Qingyang District in the Sichuan province of China has invalidated a marriage because the husband failed to disclose his HIV-positive status, the China Daily reports.
After dating for one year, the couple (whose names were not disclosed) married. When the wife pushed the issue of starting a family, the husband revealed he has HIV. The wife then moved to have the marriage annulled, and the courts agreed, stating the marriage was invalid because of the “concealment of disease.”
To read the China Daily article, visit: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-02/21/content_14658426.htm.
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.
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After dating for one year, the couple (whose names were not disclosed) married. When the wife pushed the issue of starting a family, the husband revealed he has HIV. The wife then moved to have the marriage annulled, and the courts agreed, stating the marriage was invalid because of the “concealment of disease.”
To read the China Daily article, visit: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-02/21/content_14658426.htm.
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.
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IAVI Gives $875,000 to Identify New Approaches to Vaccines
The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) is collaborating with NineSigma, one of the world’s topmost innovation service providers, to identify new approaches and technologies that may lead to a successful vaccine against HIV, according to an IAVI statement.
NineSigma is providing its expertise to IAVI after helping accelerate innovation for global multinational corporations such as Kraft, Philips and L’Oreal. The consultation has already identified two scientists who will receive a total of $875,000 to generate stable protein complexes that can be used in AIDS vaccines.
To read the IAVI statement, visit: http://www.iavi.org/news-center/Pages/PressRelease.aspx?pubID=3215.
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.
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NineSigma is providing its expertise to IAVI after helping accelerate innovation for global multinational corporations such as Kraft, Philips and L’Oreal. The consultation has already identified two scientists who will receive a total of $875,000 to generate stable protein complexes that can be used in AIDS vaccines.
To read the IAVI statement, visit: http://www.iavi.org/news-center/Pages/PressRelease.aspx?pubID=3215.
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.
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World Bank Continues to Support Vietnam in Fight Against HIV/AIDS
The World Bank recently committed to $105,178 in funding this year for an HIV/AIDS project launched in Da Nang in 2009.
In addition to updating information about current “hot spots” of drug use and sex work, the project will distribute free condoms and clean injection supplies at 31 pharmacy clinic partners and support HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services.
The project targets the city districts of Hai Chau, Thanh Khe, Lien Chieu and Son Tra.
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!
In addition to updating information about current “hot spots” of drug use and sex work, the project will distribute free condoms and clean injection supplies at 31 pharmacy clinic partners and support HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services.
The project targets the city districts of Hai Chau, Thanh Khe, Lien Chieu and Son Tra.
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.
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Alcohol Often Leads to Risky Behavior, Officials Say
The San Francisco AIDS Foundation's Feb. 16 “HIVision” community forum focused on alcohol use by people with HIV. In the gay community, too many men are under the influence of alcohol or another substance when having sex, panelists said. Under the influence, people tend to engage in sex more often and are less likely to use condoms or use them correctly, attendees of the SFAF forum at the LGBT Community Center heard.
“[Alcohol] has a big impact on many organs of the body if used to excess,” said Dr. Susan Buchbinder, director of research at the city Department of Public Health’s HIV prevention section. “It interacts with medications and how one metabolizes those medications.” A larger issue could be if those who drink too much are failing to take their medication, she said.
Doctors report less trouble getting hard-core drug users' viral loads down to undetectable levels than for those who abuse alcohol. Patients with severe alcohol addiction are some of the hardest cases in which to get viral loads under control, panelists noted.
“In a routine HIV appointment with a provider, there just is no time to ask about drinking or the consequences involved,” said E. Maxwell Davis, an assistant professor at California State University-East Bay and panel moderator. “About 13 percent of people living with HIV would be qualified as alcohol dependent,” said Davis.
Over the next year and a half, the Stop AIDS Project – part of SFAF – will conduct the “Pacing Alcohol Consumption Experiment” at three Castro bars and one in South of Market. Participants at these establishments are asked to take a five-minute exit survey, a Breathalyzer test and a follow-up online survey to help gauge gay men’s patterns of alcohol use and related behaviors.
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.
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“[Alcohol] has a big impact on many organs of the body if used to excess,” said Dr. Susan Buchbinder, director of research at the city Department of Public Health’s HIV prevention section. “It interacts with medications and how one metabolizes those medications.” A larger issue could be if those who drink too much are failing to take their medication, she said.
Doctors report less trouble getting hard-core drug users' viral loads down to undetectable levels than for those who abuse alcohol. Patients with severe alcohol addiction are some of the hardest cases in which to get viral loads under control, panelists noted.
“In a routine HIV appointment with a provider, there just is no time to ask about drinking or the consequences involved,” said E. Maxwell Davis, an assistant professor at California State University-East Bay and panel moderator. “About 13 percent of people living with HIV would be qualified as alcohol dependent,” said Davis.
Over the next year and a half, the Stop AIDS Project – part of SFAF – will conduct the “Pacing Alcohol Consumption Experiment” at three Castro bars and one in South of Market. Participants at these establishments are asked to take a five-minute exit survey, a Breathalyzer test and a follow-up online survey to help gauge gay men’s patterns of alcohol use and related behaviors.
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.
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Health Initiative Continues to Grow
South Africa has opened its 22nd Trucking Wellness Center in Roodekop, Johannesburg, to increase HIV/AIDS prevention, testing and treatment in the trucking industry.
The Trucking Wellness Program represents a long-term partnership between Mercedes-Benz South Africa, the South African Business Coalition on HIV & AIDS (SABCOHA) and the embassy of Sweden under the auspices of the National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry. According to MBSA spokesperson Nobuzwe Mangcu, the program has counseled upwards of 430,000 individuals and currently treats 155,000 people.
Area trucking activity drives the establishment of center sites, said Mangcu. “The Roodekop Wellness Center is an ideal hub to reach long-distance truck drivers, women at risk, as well as communities in the area,” he said.
Brad Mears, CEO of SABCOHA, noted that plans to replicate the program are being considered by the South African National Taxi Council.
“It is only through a collaborative commitment and seeking out innovative platforms such as” the trucking program, said Swedish Embassy Senior HIV/AIDS Advisor Ria Schoeman, “that a concerted and tangible impact can be made in reducing the spread of this disease.”
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 Trucking Wellness Program represents a long-term partnership between Mercedes-Benz South Africa, the South African Business Coalition on HIV & AIDS (SABCOHA) and the embassy of Sweden under the auspices of the National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry. According to MBSA spokesperson Nobuzwe Mangcu, the program has counseled upwards of 430,000 individuals and currently treats 155,000 people.
Area trucking activity drives the establishment of center sites, said Mangcu. “The Roodekop Wellness Center is an ideal hub to reach long-distance truck drivers, women at risk, as well as communities in the area,” he said.
Brad Mears, CEO of SABCOHA, noted that plans to replicate the program are being considered by the South African National Taxi Council.
“It is only through a collaborative commitment and seeking out innovative platforms such as” the trucking program, said Swedish Embassy Senior HIV/AIDS Advisor Ria Schoeman, “that a concerted and tangible impact can be made in reducing the spread of this disease.”
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.
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Monday, February 27, 2012
'Who Me?' Taking Stage to Raise HIV Awareness
African Americans in Southwestern Pennsylvania only represent 7 percent of the population, yet comprise 39 percent of those living with HIV/AIDS, notes the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force. That high HIV/AIDS rate is exacerbated by poor access to treatment, lack of trust in providers, being uninsured, and the fear of HIV-related stigma, said Chuck Christen, PATF’s executive director.
Terry Fluker, an HIV/AIDS activist who has had AIDS since the 1990s, has written, co-directed, and produced a play, “Who Me? HIV/AIDS,” to help turn those statistics around. The play, being staged 4 p.m. Sunday at the August Wilson Center, interweaves personal stories of people living with HIV/AIDS with gospel, hip hop, R&B, and creative dance presentations by local artists. Educational materials and condoms also will be distributed afterward.
“It’s a play about HIV/AIDS awareness education and encouraging people to get treatment and care,” said Fluker. The play aims to reach “those having unprotected sex and those with the disease who are not under treatment and care,” including African-American men who have sex with men, he noted. “Who Me?” also encourages testing for those who are possibly unwittingly HIV-infected.
Co-sponsored by PATF and the HIV testing manufacturer OraSure, the play targets all age groups and “brings forward the faces of people living with HIV/AIDS,” notes Christen. “It tells them you need to be worried about this ... and that there’s hope.”
Free tickets to “Who Me?” are available to anyone tested for HIV this week at PATF, Persad Center Inc., or the Gay and Lesbian Community Center testing sites.
For additional ticket information, contact Fluker at terryfluker29@yahoo.com or Dorsey’s Record Shop, 7614 Frankstown Ave., Homewood.
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!
Terry Fluker, an HIV/AIDS activist who has had AIDS since the 1990s, has written, co-directed, and produced a play, “Who Me? HIV/AIDS,” to help turn those statistics around. The play, being staged 4 p.m. Sunday at the August Wilson Center, interweaves personal stories of people living with HIV/AIDS with gospel, hip hop, R&B, and creative dance presentations by local artists. Educational materials and condoms also will be distributed afterward.
“It’s a play about HIV/AIDS awareness education and encouraging people to get treatment and care,” said Fluker. The play aims to reach “those having unprotected sex and those with the disease who are not under treatment and care,” including African-American men who have sex with men, he noted. “Who Me?” also encourages testing for those who are possibly unwittingly HIV-infected.
Co-sponsored by PATF and the HIV testing manufacturer OraSure, the play targets all age groups and “brings forward the faces of people living with HIV/AIDS,” notes Christen. “It tells them you need to be worried about this ... and that there’s hope.”
Free tickets to “Who Me?” are available to anyone tested for HIV this week at PATF, Persad Center Inc., or the Gay and Lesbian Community Center testing sites.
For additional ticket information, contact Fluker at terryfluker29@yahoo.com or Dorsey’s Record Shop, 7614 Frankstown Ave., Homewood.
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!
A Charm Offensive Against AIDS
Since he became executive director of UNAIDS in 2009, Michel Sidibe has worked as diplomat, lobbyist, and social change advocate to help fight AIDS globally. He focuses especially on the BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – saying that each is a regional leader.
Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi, South Africa's health minister, recalled Sidibe worked relentlessly to get Jacob Zuma, the country's new president, to budget more for AIDS treatment and press to lower prices for antiretroviral drugs. “I was new to my office, and this man was just chasing me,” Motsoaledi said. By 2010, Zuma had increased the AIDS budget by 30 percent and, along with Sidibe, publicly took an HIV test to promote screening.
Sidibe showed King Goodwill Zwelithini of the Zulus evidence that male circumcision, which the king's ancestor Shaka banned in the 1820s, helps protect men against HIV. In 2010, the king urged all Zulu men to have the operation. More than 75,000 have since done so, said Dr. Zwele Mkhize, KwaZulu-Natal's premier.
Also in Africa, Sidibe has asked leaders to talk about condoms; tell teen girls not to sleep with older men for money; help prostitutes rather than jail them; and curb religious and police discrimination against gays. He encouraged China to address the rapid spread of HIV among gay men and drug users, as well as the HIV risks faced by Chinese workers in Africa and 40 million domestic migrant workers. Many former Soviet satellites still depend on Russia and have similar heroin-driven epidemics, so Sidibe is pushing for methadone and needle-exchange programs.
Four years ago, 250 people were newly infected for every 100 getting treatment globally, and now that is down to 200 to 100. Sidibe gives most of the credit to a combination of factors: the generosity of donors, particularly the United States, and societal and behavioral changes.
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. Aaron Motsoaledi, South Africa's health minister, recalled Sidibe worked relentlessly to get Jacob Zuma, the country's new president, to budget more for AIDS treatment and press to lower prices for antiretroviral drugs. “I was new to my office, and this man was just chasing me,” Motsoaledi said. By 2010, Zuma had increased the AIDS budget by 30 percent and, along with Sidibe, publicly took an HIV test to promote screening.
Sidibe showed King Goodwill Zwelithini of the Zulus evidence that male circumcision, which the king's ancestor Shaka banned in the 1820s, helps protect men against HIV. In 2010, the king urged all Zulu men to have the operation. More than 75,000 have since done so, said Dr. Zwele Mkhize, KwaZulu-Natal's premier.
Also in Africa, Sidibe has asked leaders to talk about condoms; tell teen girls not to sleep with older men for money; help prostitutes rather than jail them; and curb religious and police discrimination against gays. He encouraged China to address the rapid spread of HIV among gay men and drug users, as well as the HIV risks faced by Chinese workers in Africa and 40 million domestic migrant workers. Many former Soviet satellites still depend on Russia and have similar heroin-driven epidemics, so Sidibe is pushing for methadone and needle-exchange programs.
Four years ago, 250 people were newly infected for every 100 getting treatment globally, and now that is down to 200 to 100. Sidibe gives most of the credit to a combination of factors: the generosity of donors, particularly the United States, and societal and behavioral changes.
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!
HIV Epidemic Feared on Ontario Reserves
rise in injection drug use on reserves in northern Ontario could fuel an HIV epidemic, health officials are warning.
In January, the remote community of Cat Lake declared a state of emergency over IV drug use there. Up to 70 percent of Cat Lake residents are addicted to prescription drugs such as OxyContin, according to Nishnawbe Aski Nation, a political group representing 49 First Nations in northern Ontario. In 2009, NAN declared a similar state of emergency over its entire territory.
The situation parallels that in Saskatchewan, where a spike in injection drug use has led to an HIV outbreak in the province during the last eight years. Injecting drugs became popular around 2004, said Saskatchewan Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Moira McKinnon. A rise in HIV rates soon followed, and the province currently has an HIV rate more than two times the national average.
Provinces like Saskatchewan are “illustrative of what we might anticipate, especially if some of the efforts to try and reduce and, hopefully, even prevent new cases of HIV in the area in this context of injection drug use aren’t recognized, and if we don’t take advantage of those strategies now,” said Dr. Kathy Pouteau, a family doctor for Kasabonika Lake First Nation in northern Ontario.
Saskatchewan’s needle-exchange programs distribute about 3 million needles annually for a population of roughly 1 million.
Of the 172 new HIV cases in Saskatchewan in 2010, 77 percent were aboriginal people. Nearly two-thirds of all new HIV cases in aboriginals result from injecting drugs.
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!
In January, the remote community of Cat Lake declared a state of emergency over IV drug use there. Up to 70 percent of Cat Lake residents are addicted to prescription drugs such as OxyContin, according to Nishnawbe Aski Nation, a political group representing 49 First Nations in northern Ontario. In 2009, NAN declared a similar state of emergency over its entire territory.
The situation parallels that in Saskatchewan, where a spike in injection drug use has led to an HIV outbreak in the province during the last eight years. Injecting drugs became popular around 2004, said Saskatchewan Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Moira McKinnon. A rise in HIV rates soon followed, and the province currently has an HIV rate more than two times the national average.
Provinces like Saskatchewan are “illustrative of what we might anticipate, especially if some of the efforts to try and reduce and, hopefully, even prevent new cases of HIV in the area in this context of injection drug use aren’t recognized, and if we don’t take advantage of those strategies now,” said Dr. Kathy Pouteau, a family doctor for Kasabonika Lake First Nation in northern Ontario.
Saskatchewan’s needle-exchange programs distribute about 3 million needles annually for a population of roughly 1 million.
Of the 172 new HIV cases in Saskatchewan in 2010, 77 percent were aboriginal people. Nearly two-thirds of all new HIV cases in aboriginals result from injecting drugs.
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.
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Uncensored Sex Education for Utah Teens, Thanks to Health Grants
The state Department of Health (DOH) is using funds from the Affordable Care Act to support comprehensive sex education for teens outside of schools, at community-based settings like the Boys & Girls Club.
Some $484,000 in annual federal funding through 2015 will be used by Utah to try to reduce teen pregnancy and STDs among at-risk youths through the Personal Responsibility Education Program. Six community groups from Brigham City to Moab applied for and will receive the PREP money, which requires grantees to choose from evidence-based curricula.
Of 28 approved programs, DOH selected four. All “focus quite a bit on condom use, and not just for preventing teen pregnancy but for preventing HIV and AIDS as well,” said Jennifer Mayfield, adolescent health coordinator for the department. “There are condom demonstrations in all of these curricula.”
The Boys & Girls’ annual $100,000 grant will assist 500 teens in the Lied Club, Capitol West in Salt Lake City and in Tooele. The group selected the “All4You!” curriculum, a 14-week class that includes lessons on STD and pregnancy prevention and negotiation skills. “[Kids] need to have the knowledge that’s going to best protect them,” said Allison Barclay, vice president of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Salt Lake.
A bill currently being considered in Utah, HB 363, would make sex education optional in schools.
Mayfield said DOH officials discussed how frank programs may offend conservative policy makers, but decided to go ahead and seek the PREP funds. “We wanted to do what we thought was best for our teens,” she said.
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!
Some $484,000 in annual federal funding through 2015 will be used by Utah to try to reduce teen pregnancy and STDs among at-risk youths through the Personal Responsibility Education Program. Six community groups from Brigham City to Moab applied for and will receive the PREP money, which requires grantees to choose from evidence-based curricula.
Of 28 approved programs, DOH selected four. All “focus quite a bit on condom use, and not just for preventing teen pregnancy but for preventing HIV and AIDS as well,” said Jennifer Mayfield, adolescent health coordinator for the department. “There are condom demonstrations in all of these curricula.”
The Boys & Girls’ annual $100,000 grant will assist 500 teens in the Lied Club, Capitol West in Salt Lake City and in Tooele. The group selected the “All4You!” curriculum, a 14-week class that includes lessons on STD and pregnancy prevention and negotiation skills. “[Kids] need to have the knowledge that’s going to best protect them,” said Allison Barclay, vice president of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Salt Lake.
A bill currently being considered in Utah, HB 363, would make sex education optional in schools.
Mayfield said DOH officials discussed how frank programs may offend conservative policy makers, but decided to go ahead and seek the PREP funds. “We wanted to do what we thought was best for our teens,” she said.
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.
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Uganda Faces Condom Shortage as Demand Soars
An increase in demand for condoms is causing Uganda to face a supply shortage, a top Ministry of Health official said recently.
Zainab Akol, the ministry’s manager of the AIDS Control Program, said the east African nation needs about 3 billion condoms annually to meet the demand of the 10 million or so people who are sexually active. “We import about 120 million condoms a year but the consumption is high.
A quick calculation is that every person has four condoms for a full year,” Akol told the Daily Monitor newspaper. “Recently, we received about 10 million condoms from [UN Population Fund] and [US Agency for International Development] but still that is not enough,” she said.
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.
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Zainab Akol, the ministry’s manager of the AIDS Control Program, said the east African nation needs about 3 billion condoms annually to meet the demand of the 10 million or so people who are sexually active. “We import about 120 million condoms a year but the consumption is high.
A quick calculation is that every person has four condoms for a full year,” Akol told the Daily Monitor newspaper. “Recently, we received about 10 million condoms from [UN Population Fund] and [US Agency for International Development] but still that is not enough,” she said.
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.
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Teachers Urged to Address Porn Factor
team of Australian researchers is updating sex education resources to address the widespread availability of online pornography and teens’ exposure to it. The materials being developed are for universities that train sex education teachers and for schools.
Teachers must have the skills to address pornography, said Dr. Debbie Ollis, a sex education expert at Deakin University in Victoria. The idea of school lessons on the topic might sound controversial, but youths need to learn to think critically about pornographic representations of gender, sex, expectations, and consent, and to distinguish between what is depicted and reality, said Maree Crabbe of Brophy Family Youth Services, who is involved in the project.
A 2006 Australian study of youths ages 13-16 found 92 percent of boys and 61 percent of girls have been exposed to online porn. A 2003 survey found 84 percent of boys and 60 percent of girls have been accidentally exposed to such sites.
“Pornography is now our most prominent sex educator,” said Crabbe. Under the “Reality and Risk” project, she and researcher Dr. David Corlett recorded 140 interviews with youths, academics, and porn industry workers that collectively suggest pornography both is widely accessed by teens and becoming more violent.
The interviews will provide footage for a documentary film, which is being funded by philanthropists and will be completed in a few months. Video clips also will be used for audio-visual resources for classrooms. The researchers are developing updated teaching materials for the popular “Catching On” curriculum, in which students will be presented with diverse scenarios to discuss.
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!
Teachers must have the skills to address pornography, said Dr. Debbie Ollis, a sex education expert at Deakin University in Victoria. The idea of school lessons on the topic might sound controversial, but youths need to learn to think critically about pornographic representations of gender, sex, expectations, and consent, and to distinguish between what is depicted and reality, said Maree Crabbe of Brophy Family Youth Services, who is involved in the project.
A 2006 Australian study of youths ages 13-16 found 92 percent of boys and 61 percent of girls have been exposed to online porn. A 2003 survey found 84 percent of boys and 60 percent of girls have been accidentally exposed to such sites.
“Pornography is now our most prominent sex educator,” said Crabbe. Under the “Reality and Risk” project, she and researcher Dr. David Corlett recorded 140 interviews with youths, academics, and porn industry workers that collectively suggest pornography both is widely accessed by teens and becoming more violent.
The interviews will provide footage for a documentary film, which is being funded by philanthropists and will be completed in a few months. Video clips also will be used for audio-visual resources for classrooms. The researchers are developing updated teaching materials for the popular “Catching On” curriculum, in which students will be presented with diverse scenarios to discuss.
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!
Abstinence and Birth Control in Sex Education Class
A bill recently proposed in the Illinois General Assembly would require sex education courses in grades six through 12 to include instruction on both abstinence and contraceptive methods for preventing STDs and unwanted pregnancy. Currently, sex education must be abstinence-based, and districts can decide whether or not to include instruction on contraception. HB 3027, Senate Amendment 1, also would define what materials and curricula are acceptable.
Supporters say the measure would ensure students are learning all methods for preventing STDs and unwanted pregnancy. However, critics say it would weaken the message of abstinence. The Senate passed the bill in a 30-28 vote, and it has been placed on the House calendar for possible consideration this spring.
Schools that choose to offer sex education, which is not a state-mandated course, can select a curriculum that suits their community’s needs, so long as it is supported by recognized research and age-appropriate, said Rep. Camille Lilly (D-Chicago), the bill’s sponsor.
“We want to make it clear to those who are providing information that it needs to be medically accurate, age-appropriate, and complete,” Lilly said. For instance, some students are given false statistics on the efficacy of contraceptive methods, she said.
“What one community thinks is age-appropriate, another may not,” said Sen. Matt Murphy (R-Palatine). “That’s a decision that is best left up to local school boards, rather than a one-size-fits-all mandate handed down from Springfield.”
A 2008 survey found two-thirds of Illinois public schools provided comprehensive sex education, and 93 percent offered some form of sex education.
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!
Supporters say the measure would ensure students are learning all methods for preventing STDs and unwanted pregnancy. However, critics say it would weaken the message of abstinence. The Senate passed the bill in a 30-28 vote, and it has been placed on the House calendar for possible consideration this spring.
Schools that choose to offer sex education, which is not a state-mandated course, can select a curriculum that suits their community’s needs, so long as it is supported by recognized research and age-appropriate, said Rep. Camille Lilly (D-Chicago), the bill’s sponsor.
“We want to make it clear to those who are providing information that it needs to be medically accurate, age-appropriate, and complete,” Lilly said. For instance, some students are given false statistics on the efficacy of contraceptive methods, she said.
“What one community thinks is age-appropriate, another may not,” said Sen. Matt Murphy (R-Palatine). “That’s a decision that is best left up to local school boards, rather than a one-size-fits-all mandate handed down from Springfield.”
A 2008 survey found two-thirds of Illinois public schools provided comprehensive sex education, and 93 percent offered some form of sex education.
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!
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Purdue Study Links Abstinence Programs, Academic Success
A study of Indiana high schools similar in enrollment, community size and racial demographics finds those that offered a specific abstinence education program demonstrated better overall academic achievement.
Purdue University Sociology Professor Kenneth Ferraro analyzed 42 high schools, one-half of which offered the Peers Educating and Encouraging Relationship Skills (PEERS) Project, an abstinence-based curriculum that uses peer educators to discuss risky behaviors. Under the program, high school students are recruited to talk to pupils in grades six through eight in science or health and wellness classes.
“We were interested in whether abstinence education programs were good, bad or benign for academic performance,” said Ferraro. “We found that school corporations with a specific abstinence education program had a higher percentage of their high school sophomores pass the math portion of the ISTEP+ Graduation Qualifying Exam in 2008-09 than was the case for matched controls.”
The longer the schools used PEERS, the better the results, said Ferraro. “We saw greater gains in the percent passing the math exam when the program was sustained for several years,” he said. However, there was no association between PEERS and attendance rates at the schools.
PEERS Executive Director Eve Jackson said the program benefits both younger and older students. High school students who serve as mentors tend to grow more confident in their own positive values as they promote them to younger students, she said. “When exemplary role models explain why it is important to set future goals and make healthy choices as well as abstain from all risky behavior, including sexual activity, middle school students pay attention,” she noted. Overall, “Students abstaining from risky behavior do better in school,” she added.
The study, “Do Abstinence Education Programs Influence High School Academic Performance?” was published in the American Journal of Health Studies (2011;26(4)).
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!
Purdue University Sociology Professor Kenneth Ferraro analyzed 42 high schools, one-half of which offered the Peers Educating and Encouraging Relationship Skills (PEERS) Project, an abstinence-based curriculum that uses peer educators to discuss risky behaviors. Under the program, high school students are recruited to talk to pupils in grades six through eight in science or health and wellness classes.
“We were interested in whether abstinence education programs were good, bad or benign for academic performance,” said Ferraro. “We found that school corporations with a specific abstinence education program had a higher percentage of their high school sophomores pass the math portion of the ISTEP+ Graduation Qualifying Exam in 2008-09 than was the case for matched controls.”
The longer the schools used PEERS, the better the results, said Ferraro. “We saw greater gains in the percent passing the math exam when the program was sustained for several years,” he said. However, there was no association between PEERS and attendance rates at the schools.
PEERS Executive Director Eve Jackson said the program benefits both younger and older students. High school students who serve as mentors tend to grow more confident in their own positive values as they promote them to younger students, she said. “When exemplary role models explain why it is important to set future goals and make healthy choices as well as abstain from all risky behavior, including sexual activity, middle school students pay attention,” she noted. Overall, “Students abstaining from risky behavior do better in school,” she added.
The study, “Do Abstinence Education Programs Influence High School Academic Performance?” was published in the American Journal of Health Studies (2011;26(4)).
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!
Instant Infant HIV Diagnosis to Be Rolled Out in Rural Areas
Last year, students at Kenya’s Strathmore University began software development on a database system to help speed up the delivery of HIV test results for infants in remote areas. Diagnosis within six weeks of birth ensures the timely initiation of antiretroviral therapy.
With the system already implemented in 75 of Kenya’s most remote health centers, blood samples are logged into one of the four central Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) CDC laboratories. A text message is sent to the rural health center confirming the sample’s receipt. Upon diagnosis, another text confirmation is generated to the rural center, which notifies parents the results are ready.
“As a policy, all positive results on the [polymerase chain reaction] equipment have to be re-run for confirmation in order to avoid false positives that might be due to contamination,” said Oscar Mulondanome, a lab technologist at the Alupe Center testing laboratory.
Use of the system is cutting down the time spent waiting for a diagnosis, delays that can span up to 18 weeks. An additional 50 facilities will be connected to the testing sites in trial phases, said Silvia Kadima, a researcher with KEMRI. By April, the software will be further customized and officially rolled out by the government, Kadima said.
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!
With the system already implemented in 75 of Kenya’s most remote health centers, blood samples are logged into one of the four central Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) CDC laboratories. A text message is sent to the rural health center confirming the sample’s receipt. Upon diagnosis, another text confirmation is generated to the rural center, which notifies parents the results are ready.
“As a policy, all positive results on the [polymerase chain reaction] equipment have to be re-run for confirmation in order to avoid false positives that might be due to contamination,” said Oscar Mulondanome, a lab technologist at the Alupe Center testing laboratory.
Use of the system is cutting down the time spent waiting for a diagnosis, delays that can span up to 18 weeks. An additional 50 facilities will be connected to the testing sites in trial phases, said Silvia Kadima, a researcher with KEMRI. By April, the software will be further customized and officially rolled out by the government, Kadima said.
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!
Report: Myanmar Desperate for HIV and TB Drugs
Lack of funding is causing some 85,000 people with HIV in Myanmar to go without treatment, Doctors Without Borders reported Wednesday. Myanmar’s situation could grow even worse, since the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria recently suspended new grant-making activities due to a shortfall in donations, DWB said. The expected Global Fund grants could have supplied HIV medicine to 46,500 people in Myanmar and treated another 10,000 patients stricken with drug-resistant TB.
Myanmar’s tuberculosis rate is nearly triple the global rate, and drug-resistant strains continue to surge. TB is a leading cause of death for the country’s HIV patients. About 18,000 people die from HIV/AIDS annually in Myanmar, the UN estimates.
DWB provides antiretroviral drugs to nearly 23,000 people at 23 clinics throughout Myanmar, funding more than half of all HIV treatment being provided to 43,000 patients, said Peter Paul de Groote, leader of DWB’s Myanmar operation.
Although a civilian government assumed office last year, international assistance to Myanmar has remained minimal due to its previous rule by a reclusive military government.
“Regardless of what is happening in the country, the people that are in need of treatment need treatment,” said de Groote. “Of course, we all hope that the developments as they seem to be going in that direction will lead to more money into the country, but, in general, I think this money should be coming in regardless of what the situation is.”
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!
Myanmar’s tuberculosis rate is nearly triple the global rate, and drug-resistant strains continue to surge. TB is a leading cause of death for the country’s HIV patients. About 18,000 people die from HIV/AIDS annually in Myanmar, the UN estimates.
DWB provides antiretroviral drugs to nearly 23,000 people at 23 clinics throughout Myanmar, funding more than half of all HIV treatment being provided to 43,000 patients, said Peter Paul de Groote, leader of DWB’s Myanmar operation.
Although a civilian government assumed office last year, international assistance to Myanmar has remained minimal due to its previous rule by a reclusive military government.
“Regardless of what is happening in the country, the people that are in need of treatment need treatment,” said de Groote. “Of course, we all hope that the developments as they seem to be going in that direction will lead to more money into the country, but, in general, I think this money should be coming in regardless of what the situation is.”
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!
"Hepatitis C Deaths Up, Baby Boomers Most at Risk
Two-thirds of Americans with hepatitis C virus were born between 1945 and 1965, and federal health officials are considering whether to recommend one-time HCV testing for this group. “One of every 33 baby boomers are living with hepatitis C infection,” said Dr. John Ward, director of CDC’s Division of Viral Hepatitis. “Most people will be surprised, because it’s a silent epidemic.”
Recorded deaths from HCV have surpassed those from HIV, a new CDC study of mortality data between 1999 and 2007 found. Deaths from HCV had increased significantly to 15,106 in 2007, while HIV deaths fell to 12,734. Three-fourths of hepatitis deaths occurred in people ages 45-64.
An estimated 3.2 million Americans have chronic HCV, but at least half may not know it. Before 1992, when widespread HCV testing of the blood supply began, the virus commonly was spread through blood transfusions. A one-time experiment with drugs, even if it was decades ago, also could have led to an infection. “Asking someone about a risk that happened 20 to 30 years ago is a lot to ask,” Ward said.
Current CDC guidelines recommend testing those known to be at high risk, but federal health officials are considering whether anyone born between 1945 and 1965 should get a one-time HCV blood test. A second CDC-funded study analyzing that option concluded it had the potential to save 82,000 lives.
“Mortality will continue to grow for the next 10 to 15 years at least, unless we do something different” to find and treat silent HCV infections, Ward said.
Research suggests that adding to standard HCV treatment one of two new drugs could boost cure rates as high as 75 percent, with some patients able to complete therapy in just six months. A third study from Stanford University found the new triple HCV therapy would be cost-effective for people with advanced disease, and genetic testing could be used to help identify those with mild disease needing such treatment.
The studies, “The Increasing Burden of Mortality from Viral Hepatitis in the United States Between 1999 and 2007,” “The Cost-Effectiveness of Birth-Cohort Screening for Hepatitis C Antibody in US Primary Care Settings” and “New Protease Inhibitors for the Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis,” were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine (2012;156(4):271-278, 263-270 and 279-290, respectively).
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!
Recorded deaths from HCV have surpassed those from HIV, a new CDC study of mortality data between 1999 and 2007 found. Deaths from HCV had increased significantly to 15,106 in 2007, while HIV deaths fell to 12,734. Three-fourths of hepatitis deaths occurred in people ages 45-64.
An estimated 3.2 million Americans have chronic HCV, but at least half may not know it. Before 1992, when widespread HCV testing of the blood supply began, the virus commonly was spread through blood transfusions. A one-time experiment with drugs, even if it was decades ago, also could have led to an infection. “Asking someone about a risk that happened 20 to 30 years ago is a lot to ask,” Ward said.
Current CDC guidelines recommend testing those known to be at high risk, but federal health officials are considering whether anyone born between 1945 and 1965 should get a one-time HCV blood test. A second CDC-funded study analyzing that option concluded it had the potential to save 82,000 lives.
“Mortality will continue to grow for the next 10 to 15 years at least, unless we do something different” to find and treat silent HCV infections, Ward said.
Research suggests that adding to standard HCV treatment one of two new drugs could boost cure rates as high as 75 percent, with some patients able to complete therapy in just six months. A third study from Stanford University found the new triple HCV therapy would be cost-effective for people with advanced disease, and genetic testing could be used to help identify those with mild disease needing such treatment.
The studies, “The Increasing Burden of Mortality from Viral Hepatitis in the United States Between 1999 and 2007,” “The Cost-Effectiveness of Birth-Cohort Screening for Hepatitis C Antibody in US Primary Care Settings” and “New Protease Inhibitors for the Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis,” were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine (2012;156(4):271-278, 263-270 and 279-290, respectively).
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!
Lipodystrophy-Related Waistline Increases Are Linked to Decreased Mental Functioning
New data published in the February 14 issue of Neurology suggest that an expanding waistline associated with lipodystrophy is associated with decreased mental functioning, whereas general weight gain has a protective effective against neurocognitive decline in people living with HIV. The contradictory—and largely unexplained—findings come from an ongoing study exploring the various affects of HIV and antiretroviral therapy on central nervous system functioning.
“Interestingly, bigger waistlines were linked to decreased mental functioning more than was general obesity,” said lead author J. Allen McCutchan, MD, of the University of California at San Diego, in an accompanying news announcement. “This is important because certain [antiretroviral] drugs cause weight gain in the center of the body that is most dramatic in the abdomen, neck, chest and breasts.”
The Central Nervous System HIV Antiretroviral Therapy Effects Research (CHARTER) study was started in 2002 to explore how neurological complications of HIV have changed in the years since combination antiretroviral (ARV) therapy became widely available. In addition to exploring general trends—such as the decreasing prevalence of AIDS-related dementia and the rise of mild problems such as HIV-associated neurocognitive decline (HAND)—CHARTER aims to determine if the central nervous system complications of HIV are affected by different histories and ARV regimens.
CHARTER’s latest report involves 130 people living with HIV undergoing various neurological tests and laboratory examinations at six participating clinics in the United States. The study participants included in the analysis averaged 46 years of age and had been living with HIV for about 13 years, most of whom were receiving ARV treatment.
Evidence of neurocognitive impairment (NCI), such as reduced memory or concentration, was documented in 40 percent of the study participants.
In one analysis conducted by McCutchan’s team, four factors were found to be associated with NCI: older age, a longer time living with HIV, diabetes (notably in those older than 55) and an increased waist circumference. People with NCI had waist circumferences that averaged 39 inches, compared with 35 inches for those without memory difficulties.
An increase in body mass index (BMI)—a sign of generalized weight gain and obesity—was not associated with an increased risk of NCI. In fact, it was associated with a 30 percent lower risk of neurocognitive impairment in the study.
McCutchan and his colleagues made sense of this discrepancy with the use of a second model looking at both waist circumference and BMI measurements together. When waist measurements increased in lockstep with hip measurements, as is usually the case with general obesity, BMI increases and the risk of NCI were lower. However, when waist measurements increased whereas hip measurements either decreased or stayed the same—as often occurs in people with HIV-related lipodystrophy—the risk of NCI was higher.
The authors point out this has been observed before. “Recent studies have identified nonlinear effects on cognition by central obesity as measured by [waist circumference] or waist to hip ratio (WHR),” they write in their Neurology report. “In a cross-sectional study of 7,163 normal and overweight women aged 65 to 80 without dementia, increased WHRs…were associated with greater risk of cognitive impairment than were higher BMIs. BMI had the most pronounced association with poorer cognitive functioning in women with less central obesity (WHR). In contrast, for women with the highest WHR, cognitive scores actually increased with BMI, suggesting that more general increased body mass was protective.
“This observation is consistent with the protective effect of high BMI that we found when [waist circumference] was entered into our second model,” McCutchan and his colleagues explain.
“As in HIV-uninfected persons, central obesity, but not more generalized increases in body mass (BMI), was associated with a higher prevalence of NCI in HIV-positive persons,” the authors conclude. “Avoidance of antiretroviral drugs that induce central obesity might protect from or help to reverse neurocognitive impairment in HIV-infected persons.”
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!
“Interestingly, bigger waistlines were linked to decreased mental functioning more than was general obesity,” said lead author J. Allen McCutchan, MD, of the University of California at San Diego, in an accompanying news announcement. “This is important because certain [antiretroviral] drugs cause weight gain in the center of the body that is most dramatic in the abdomen, neck, chest and breasts.”
The Central Nervous System HIV Antiretroviral Therapy Effects Research (CHARTER) study was started in 2002 to explore how neurological complications of HIV have changed in the years since combination antiretroviral (ARV) therapy became widely available. In addition to exploring general trends—such as the decreasing prevalence of AIDS-related dementia and the rise of mild problems such as HIV-associated neurocognitive decline (HAND)—CHARTER aims to determine if the central nervous system complications of HIV are affected by different histories and ARV regimens.
CHARTER’s latest report involves 130 people living with HIV undergoing various neurological tests and laboratory examinations at six participating clinics in the United States. The study participants included in the analysis averaged 46 years of age and had been living with HIV for about 13 years, most of whom were receiving ARV treatment.
Evidence of neurocognitive impairment (NCI), such as reduced memory or concentration, was documented in 40 percent of the study participants.
In one analysis conducted by McCutchan’s team, four factors were found to be associated with NCI: older age, a longer time living with HIV, diabetes (notably in those older than 55) and an increased waist circumference. People with NCI had waist circumferences that averaged 39 inches, compared with 35 inches for those without memory difficulties.
An increase in body mass index (BMI)—a sign of generalized weight gain and obesity—was not associated with an increased risk of NCI. In fact, it was associated with a 30 percent lower risk of neurocognitive impairment in the study.
McCutchan and his colleagues made sense of this discrepancy with the use of a second model looking at both waist circumference and BMI measurements together. When waist measurements increased in lockstep with hip measurements, as is usually the case with general obesity, BMI increases and the risk of NCI were lower. However, when waist measurements increased whereas hip measurements either decreased or stayed the same—as often occurs in people with HIV-related lipodystrophy—the risk of NCI was higher.
The authors point out this has been observed before. “Recent studies have identified nonlinear effects on cognition by central obesity as measured by [waist circumference] or waist to hip ratio (WHR),” they write in their Neurology report. “In a cross-sectional study of 7,163 normal and overweight women aged 65 to 80 without dementia, increased WHRs…were associated with greater risk of cognitive impairment than were higher BMIs. BMI had the most pronounced association with poorer cognitive functioning in women with less central obesity (WHR). In contrast, for women with the highest WHR, cognitive scores actually increased with BMI, suggesting that more general increased body mass was protective.
“This observation is consistent with the protective effect of high BMI that we found when [waist circumference] was entered into our second model,” McCutchan and his colleagues explain.
“As in HIV-uninfected persons, central obesity, but not more generalized increases in body mass (BMI), was associated with a higher prevalence of NCI in HIV-positive persons,” the authors conclude. “Avoidance of antiretroviral drugs that induce central obesity might protect from or help to reverse neurocognitive impairment in HIV-infected persons.”
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!
Hep C, HIV Drug-Drug Interaction Studies Must Be a Priority, Activists Say
An international Hep C activist group is calling on government regulators and pharmaceutical companies developing therapies for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection to conduct necessary interaction studies involving other medications commonly used by people living with HCV and HIV/HCV coinfection as early as possible.
The Hepatitis C Community Advisory Board (HCAB), in a statement released Thursday, February 16, stressed their belief that it is possible to conduct such drug-drug interaction studies prior to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval without delaying development of novel therapies for HCV.
Because many emerging HCV drugs, frequently referred to as direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), are broken down (metabolized) by the same enzyme pathways responsible for processing many medications used by people living with hepatitis C, thoroughly exploring potential drug-drug interactions and ways to circumvent problems is important. Left unchecked, interactions can significantly decrease the effectiveness of some drugs while potentially increasing the risk of serious side effects from other drugs.
Early knowledge of interactions between DAAs and HIV-treating antiretrovirals is particularly crucial, given that roughly one third of people living with HIV are coinfected with HCV and are becoming increasingly dependent on the rapid availability of new DAAs.
“In recognition of the suboptimal efficacy and tolerability of peginterferon and ribavirin, rapid trajectory of liver disease progression and increasing mortality from HCV-related complications among HIV/HCV coinfected patients,” the HCAB statement reads, “regulators in the [United States] and the [European Union should] encourage sponsors to conduct trials in HIV/HCV coinfected patients prior to approval for [people living with HCV but not HIV].”
The HCAB statement stems from concerns related to the recent discovery of drug-drug interactions between Merck’s Victrelis (boceprevir) and Norvir (ritonavir)-boosted protease inhibitors used to treat HIV infection. “Although we commend [Merck] for opening one of the first coinfection trials with a DAA, we were outraged that Merck chose not to conduct [drug-drug interaction studies] with commonly used antiretroviral agents prior to launching the trial, and prior to gaining approval for boceprevir.”
“Vertex and Tibotec,” the statement authors add, “were able to bring [Incivek] telaprevir to market with a much fuller portfolio of [drug-drug interaction] data, although both drugs were developed within the same timeframe.”
HCAB is asking FDA, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and pharmaceutical companies to work together to minimize potential harm to people living with HCV, including people coinfected with HIV and HCV, from uncharacterized drug-drug interactions.
“Furthermore,” the statement concludes, “we call upon sponsors to perform [drug-drug interaction] studies (as indicated by metabolic profile of their drug or drugs) with [Department of Health and Human Services, European AIDS Clinical Society and World Health Organization]-recommended antiretroviral agents for first-line, and treatment-experienced HIV/HCV coinfected people prior to approval, and strongly encourage studies of hormonal contraceptives, methadone, buprenorphine, lipid lowering agents, immunosuppressive drugs, herbal remedies, and commonly prescribed psychiatric medications.”
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 Hepatitis C Community Advisory Board (HCAB), in a statement released Thursday, February 16, stressed their belief that it is possible to conduct such drug-drug interaction studies prior to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval without delaying development of novel therapies for HCV.
Because many emerging HCV drugs, frequently referred to as direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), are broken down (metabolized) by the same enzyme pathways responsible for processing many medications used by people living with hepatitis C, thoroughly exploring potential drug-drug interactions and ways to circumvent problems is important. Left unchecked, interactions can significantly decrease the effectiveness of some drugs while potentially increasing the risk of serious side effects from other drugs.
Early knowledge of interactions between DAAs and HIV-treating antiretrovirals is particularly crucial, given that roughly one third of people living with HIV are coinfected with HCV and are becoming increasingly dependent on the rapid availability of new DAAs.
“In recognition of the suboptimal efficacy and tolerability of peginterferon and ribavirin, rapid trajectory of liver disease progression and increasing mortality from HCV-related complications among HIV/HCV coinfected patients,” the HCAB statement reads, “regulators in the [United States] and the [European Union should] encourage sponsors to conduct trials in HIV/HCV coinfected patients prior to approval for [people living with HCV but not HIV].”
The HCAB statement stems from concerns related to the recent discovery of drug-drug interactions between Merck’s Victrelis (boceprevir) and Norvir (ritonavir)-boosted protease inhibitors used to treat HIV infection. “Although we commend [Merck] for opening one of the first coinfection trials with a DAA, we were outraged that Merck chose not to conduct [drug-drug interaction studies] with commonly used antiretroviral agents prior to launching the trial, and prior to gaining approval for boceprevir.”
“Vertex and Tibotec,” the statement authors add, “were able to bring [Incivek] telaprevir to market with a much fuller portfolio of [drug-drug interaction] data, although both drugs were developed within the same timeframe.”
HCAB is asking FDA, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and pharmaceutical companies to work together to minimize potential harm to people living with HCV, including people coinfected with HIV and HCV, from uncharacterized drug-drug interactions.
“Furthermore,” the statement concludes, “we call upon sponsors to perform [drug-drug interaction] studies (as indicated by metabolic profile of their drug or drugs) with [Department of Health and Human Services, European AIDS Clinical Society and World Health Organization]-recommended antiretroviral agents for first-line, and treatment-experienced HIV/HCV coinfected people prior to approval, and strongly encourage studies of hormonal contraceptives, methadone, buprenorphine, lipid lowering agents, immunosuppressive drugs, herbal remedies, and commonly prescribed psychiatric medications.”
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!
Tenofovir Increases Risk of Irreversible Kidney Disease
The nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor tenofovir is associated with an increased risk of kidney damage and chronic kidney disease that increases over time and doesn’t appear to be immediately reversible, according to a new analysis by University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) researchers that’s published online ahead of print by the journal AIDS.
According to the paper, based on a review of more than 10,000 Veterans Administration medical records, the risk of proteinuria—signs of protein in the urine, a marker of kidney damage—increased 34 percent every year a person living with HIV remained on the drug. The risk of chronic kidney disease increased, annually, by 33 percent. There was also an 11 percent higher risk of rapidly declining kidney function for every year tenofovir was continued.
Importantly, Rebecca Scherzer, MD, of UCSF and her colleagues note, these increases were independent of other factors that cause kidney disease—notably age, diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking, hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection and various HIV-specific parameters—confirming that tenofovir therapy itself is an important risk to consider as antiretroviral treatment is started and continued.
Tenofovir—the active ingredient in Viread and a component of Atripla, Truvada and Complera—is widely prescribed, as it is considered a first-line treatment of HIV infection. “[It] is currently used in approximately half of all antiretroviral regimens and as part of post-exposure prophylaxis,” Scherzer and her colleagues write.
Clinical trials leading up to the approval of tenofovir as Viread in 2001 didn’t find significant kidney problems, though Scherzer’s team notes that many of these studies excluded individuals living with, and at risk for, renal disease. More recent studies have reported an association with tenofovir and kidney disease, though usually in small numbers of people and typically in those who were older, with low CD4 cell counts and other HIV- and non-HIV-related health problems.
As many of these studies—some of which didn’t find any obvious connection between tenofovir and kidney disease—were small and may not have been based on appropriate laboratory data, Scherzer and her colleagues turned to a national sample of closely monitored patients, notably those receiving HIV care through the Veterans Health Administration. The analysis included 10,841 veterans living with HIV starting therapy for the first time between 1997 and 2007. Patients in the analysis were on average 46 years old when they started HIV treatment. Roughly half were black, most (more than 97 percent) were male, nearly 40 percent had high blood pressure, 7 percent had diabetes and 19 percent were smokers.
By the end of the study period, 4,303 patients had used tenofovir for an average of 1.3 years; Scherzer and her colleagues pointed out that this short follow-up time was a limitation of the study. The maximum length of tenofovir-inclusive antiretroviral therapy was about six years.
There were 3,400 incidents of proteinuria among all patients included in the analysis, notably 13 percent of those using tenofovir and 8 percent of those not using a tenofovir-inclusive regimen. Among those using tenofovir, the hazard ratio was 1.34 per year—the drug was associated with an annual 34 percent increase in the risk of protein leaking out of the kidneys, confirmed by two consecutive urine dipstick tests.
Rapid decline in kidney function—consistent drops in the estimated glomerular filtrate rate (eGFR) for at least two years—was documented 3,078 times in 9 percent of tenofovir users and 5 percent of those who never used the drug. Among those using tenofovir, the hazard ratio was 1.11—an 11 percent increase in the annual risk of a kidney-related complication associated with a higher risk of death.
As for chronic kidney disease—defined as two consecutive eGFR calculations below 60 milliliters (per minutes per 1.73 squared meters)—there were 1,712 incidents in the study population, notably 2 percent of tenofovir users and 1 percent of those who never used the drug. The annual increase in the risk was 33 percent among those using tenofovir.
All of the annual increases in the kidney disease markers were statistically significant, meaning they were too great to have occurred by chance. And importantly, the risks associated with tenofovir were documented after adjusting the data for other known risk factors. “Even after accounting for demographics, HIV-related factors, comorbidities and other antiretroviral drugs, tenofovir remained independently associated with elevated risk for each kidney disease outcome,” the authors remarked.
Interestingly, and in contrast with the findings of other studies, Scherzer and her colleagues noted that the presence of other chronic kidney disease risk factors upon starting tenofovir treatment did not affect kidney disease outcomes during therapy with the drug. “Presence of traditional [chronic kidney disease] risk factors at baseline such as pre-existing [chronic kidney disease], diabetes and hypertension did not appear to worsen the effects of tenofovir,” they wrote.
It is important to note that the risk increases reported by Scherzer's team are relative, not absolute.* The overall risk of kidney disease among people living with HIV using tenofovir remains low and depends on underlying risk factors.
Of concern was the finding that discontinuation of tenofovir didn’t reverse the signs of kidney disease—signs of kidney problems remained for at least a year after the drug was discontinued. “Among those who discontinued tenofovir use in our study,” Scherzer’s team writes, “time following cessation was not significantly associated with either higher or lower risks of proteinuria, or rapid decline, and appeared to be weakly associated with increased [chronic kidney disease] risk. Past users of tenofovir remained at increased risk of outcomes, compared to those never exposed to tenofovir.”
The authors concluded that “tenofovir is associated with increased risk of proteinuria, rapid decline [in kidney function] and [chronic kidney disease]. Clinicians treating HIV-infected patients should recognize that while traditional risk factors such as hypertension, older age and diabetes may increase the risk of kidney disease, tenofovir is associated with elevated risk even in patients without pre-existing kidney risk factors.”
The researchers add, however, that the risks of tenofovir needed to be weighed against its potential benefits. “Despite tenofovir’s association with progressive kidney disease, it is an important component of antiretroviral therapy that may be required in many patients to control viral load. The balance between its efficacy and probably adverse effects requires further study.”
* Generally speaking, the absolute risk of kidney disease in a white 40-year-old male with no other risk factors is very low, on the order of 0.2 percent over the next five years of his life, and increases with certain risk factors (e.g., with type-2 diabetes to 1.7 percent, with type-2 diabetes and high blood pressure to 7.2 percent). The 33 percent risk increase associated with tenofovir relates to the original underlying risk, and equates to a 0.066 percent increase in the person without any other risk factors (0.002 X 0.33) and a 2.3 percent increase in the tenofovir user with high blood pressure and diabetes (0.072 X 0.33). So the absolute risk of chronic kidney disease increases to roughly 0.27 percent in a 40-year-old white male without risk factors—still a low absolute risk—and a more moderate 9.5 percent absolute risk in a 40-year-old male with high blood pressure and diabetes.
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!
According to the paper, based on a review of more than 10,000 Veterans Administration medical records, the risk of proteinuria—signs of protein in the urine, a marker of kidney damage—increased 34 percent every year a person living with HIV remained on the drug. The risk of chronic kidney disease increased, annually, by 33 percent. There was also an 11 percent higher risk of rapidly declining kidney function for every year tenofovir was continued.
Importantly, Rebecca Scherzer, MD, of UCSF and her colleagues note, these increases were independent of other factors that cause kidney disease—notably age, diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking, hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection and various HIV-specific parameters—confirming that tenofovir therapy itself is an important risk to consider as antiretroviral treatment is started and continued.
Tenofovir—the active ingredient in Viread and a component of Atripla, Truvada and Complera—is widely prescribed, as it is considered a first-line treatment of HIV infection. “[It] is currently used in approximately half of all antiretroviral regimens and as part of post-exposure prophylaxis,” Scherzer and her colleagues write.
Clinical trials leading up to the approval of tenofovir as Viread in 2001 didn’t find significant kidney problems, though Scherzer’s team notes that many of these studies excluded individuals living with, and at risk for, renal disease. More recent studies have reported an association with tenofovir and kidney disease, though usually in small numbers of people and typically in those who were older, with low CD4 cell counts and other HIV- and non-HIV-related health problems.
As many of these studies—some of which didn’t find any obvious connection between tenofovir and kidney disease—were small and may not have been based on appropriate laboratory data, Scherzer and her colleagues turned to a national sample of closely monitored patients, notably those receiving HIV care through the Veterans Health Administration. The analysis included 10,841 veterans living with HIV starting therapy for the first time between 1997 and 2007. Patients in the analysis were on average 46 years old when they started HIV treatment. Roughly half were black, most (more than 97 percent) were male, nearly 40 percent had high blood pressure, 7 percent had diabetes and 19 percent were smokers.
By the end of the study period, 4,303 patients had used tenofovir for an average of 1.3 years; Scherzer and her colleagues pointed out that this short follow-up time was a limitation of the study. The maximum length of tenofovir-inclusive antiretroviral therapy was about six years.
There were 3,400 incidents of proteinuria among all patients included in the analysis, notably 13 percent of those using tenofovir and 8 percent of those not using a tenofovir-inclusive regimen. Among those using tenofovir, the hazard ratio was 1.34 per year—the drug was associated with an annual 34 percent increase in the risk of protein leaking out of the kidneys, confirmed by two consecutive urine dipstick tests.
Rapid decline in kidney function—consistent drops in the estimated glomerular filtrate rate (eGFR) for at least two years—was documented 3,078 times in 9 percent of tenofovir users and 5 percent of those who never used the drug. Among those using tenofovir, the hazard ratio was 1.11—an 11 percent increase in the annual risk of a kidney-related complication associated with a higher risk of death.
As for chronic kidney disease—defined as two consecutive eGFR calculations below 60 milliliters (per minutes per 1.73 squared meters)—there were 1,712 incidents in the study population, notably 2 percent of tenofovir users and 1 percent of those who never used the drug. The annual increase in the risk was 33 percent among those using tenofovir.
All of the annual increases in the kidney disease markers were statistically significant, meaning they were too great to have occurred by chance. And importantly, the risks associated with tenofovir were documented after adjusting the data for other known risk factors. “Even after accounting for demographics, HIV-related factors, comorbidities and other antiretroviral drugs, tenofovir remained independently associated with elevated risk for each kidney disease outcome,” the authors remarked.
Interestingly, and in contrast with the findings of other studies, Scherzer and her colleagues noted that the presence of other chronic kidney disease risk factors upon starting tenofovir treatment did not affect kidney disease outcomes during therapy with the drug. “Presence of traditional [chronic kidney disease] risk factors at baseline such as pre-existing [chronic kidney disease], diabetes and hypertension did not appear to worsen the effects of tenofovir,” they wrote.
It is important to note that the risk increases reported by Scherzer's team are relative, not absolute.* The overall risk of kidney disease among people living with HIV using tenofovir remains low and depends on underlying risk factors.
Of concern was the finding that discontinuation of tenofovir didn’t reverse the signs of kidney disease—signs of kidney problems remained for at least a year after the drug was discontinued. “Among those who discontinued tenofovir use in our study,” Scherzer’s team writes, “time following cessation was not significantly associated with either higher or lower risks of proteinuria, or rapid decline, and appeared to be weakly associated with increased [chronic kidney disease] risk. Past users of tenofovir remained at increased risk of outcomes, compared to those never exposed to tenofovir.”
The authors concluded that “tenofovir is associated with increased risk of proteinuria, rapid decline [in kidney function] and [chronic kidney disease]. Clinicians treating HIV-infected patients should recognize that while traditional risk factors such as hypertension, older age and diabetes may increase the risk of kidney disease, tenofovir is associated with elevated risk even in patients without pre-existing kidney risk factors.”
The researchers add, however, that the risks of tenofovir needed to be weighed against its potential benefits. “Despite tenofovir’s association with progressive kidney disease, it is an important component of antiretroviral therapy that may be required in many patients to control viral load. The balance between its efficacy and probably adverse effects requires further study.”
* Generally speaking, the absolute risk of kidney disease in a white 40-year-old male with no other risk factors is very low, on the order of 0.2 percent over the next five years of his life, and increases with certain risk factors (e.g., with type-2 diabetes to 1.7 percent, with type-2 diabetes and high blood pressure to 7.2 percent). The 33 percent risk increase associated with tenofovir relates to the original underlying risk, and equates to a 0.066 percent increase in the person without any other risk factors (0.002 X 0.33) and a 2.3 percent increase in the tenofovir user with high blood pressure and diabetes (0.072 X 0.33). So the absolute risk of chronic kidney disease increases to roughly 0.27 percent in a 40-year-old white male without risk factors—still a low absolute risk—and a more moderate 9.5 percent absolute risk in a 40-year-old male with high blood pressure and diabetes.
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!
FDA Panel: Qutenza Pain Patch for Neuropathy Not Ready for Approval
A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee voted unanimously against recommending the approval of a novel patch applied to the soles of the feet to remedy pain associated with neuropathy in people living with HIV. Though the patch is commercially available for the treatment of shingles-related neuropathy pain, the FDA’s Anesthetic and Analgesic Drug Products Advisory Committee’s review of two clinical trials of the Qutenza capsaicin patch involving HIV-positive volunteers did not find “substantial evidence of effectiveness.”
Based on the data submitted by the drug’s manufacturer, San Mateo, California–based NeurogesX, the advisory committee also concluded that the benefits of Qutenza patch applications did not necessary outweigh the risks of treatment and therefore it was not acceptable for an approval.
Though the FDA is not required to follow the guidance of its independent advisory committees, it usually does so. In a pre-advisory committee briefing document, released February 7, the agency’s division of anesthesia, analgesia and addiction products expressed reservations about approving Qutenza. “It would not be in the best interest of these patients for us to approve a product for which substantial evidence of efficacy has not been demonstrated, or one for which the benefits do not clearly outweigh the risks,” the document reads.
“We will continue to work closely with the FDA to address the advisory committee’s comments as the Agency finalizes its review of our [application],” said Ronald Martell, president of NeurogesX, in a brief announcement released by the company. “We remain confident that Qutenza has the potential to address significant, unmet medical needs and to improve the quality of life for patients with HIV-[associated peripheral neuropathy].”
In light of the conflicting data from the two studies reviewed by the FDA, advisory committee members suggested that a third study be conducted to either confirm or refute Qutenza’s efficacy. It is not clear whether NeurogesX can commit to such a study.
The FDA has until March 7, 2012, to determine whether or not to expand Qutenza’s approved usages to include HIV-associated peripheral neuropathy. Though people suffering from HIV-associated peripheral neuropathy may still be able to access the patch “off label,” many public and private health insurance plans require FDA approval supporting specific use of a drug in their coverage determinations.
The Qutenza patch—it contains 8 percent capsaicin, a high concentration of the chemical that gives chili peppers their pungency—was approved in the United States in November 2009 for the treatment of neuropathic pain associated with postherpetic neuralgia, and it has been approved in the European Union for the treatment of peripheral neuropathic pain in nondiabetic adults.
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!
Based on the data submitted by the drug’s manufacturer, San Mateo, California–based NeurogesX, the advisory committee also concluded that the benefits of Qutenza patch applications did not necessary outweigh the risks of treatment and therefore it was not acceptable for an approval.
Though the FDA is not required to follow the guidance of its independent advisory committees, it usually does so. In a pre-advisory committee briefing document, released February 7, the agency’s division of anesthesia, analgesia and addiction products expressed reservations about approving Qutenza. “It would not be in the best interest of these patients for us to approve a product for which substantial evidence of efficacy has not been demonstrated, or one for which the benefits do not clearly outweigh the risks,” the document reads.
“We will continue to work closely with the FDA to address the advisory committee’s comments as the Agency finalizes its review of our [application],” said Ronald Martell, president of NeurogesX, in a brief announcement released by the company. “We remain confident that Qutenza has the potential to address significant, unmet medical needs and to improve the quality of life for patients with HIV-[associated peripheral neuropathy].”
In light of the conflicting data from the two studies reviewed by the FDA, advisory committee members suggested that a third study be conducted to either confirm or refute Qutenza’s efficacy. It is not clear whether NeurogesX can commit to such a study.
The FDA has until March 7, 2012, to determine whether or not to expand Qutenza’s approved usages to include HIV-associated peripheral neuropathy. Though people suffering from HIV-associated peripheral neuropathy may still be able to access the patch “off label,” many public and private health insurance plans require FDA approval supporting specific use of a drug in their coverage determinations.
The Qutenza patch—it contains 8 percent capsaicin, a high concentration of the chemical that gives chili peppers their pungency—was approved in the United States in November 2009 for the treatment of neuropathic pain associated with postherpetic neuralgia, and it has been approved in the European Union for the treatment of peripheral neuropathic pain in nondiabetic adults.
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!
Women on Hormonal Contraceptives Advised to Use Condoms to Prevent HIV
The World Health Organization (WHO) is trying to settle a four-month-old controversy by affirming in its guidelines the safety of injectable hormonal contraceptives, while also cautioning women to use condoms to prevent HIV, PlusNews reports.
A WHO investigation into the safety of certain types of hormonal contraceptives was sparked by an October 2011 study in The Lancet that suggested that there may be a twofold risk of HIV among women using progesterone-only birth control, such as Depo-Provera, commonly used in sub-Saharan Africa.
After a thorough investigation, a group of experts convened by WHO found the Lancet study inconclusive—specifically, they could find no proven medical link between hormonal contraception and increased HIV risk. However, experts strongly advised women on hormonal contraception to use condoms concurrently to prevent HIV.
To read the PlusNews article, visit: http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94887.
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!
A WHO investigation into the safety of certain types of hormonal contraceptives was sparked by an October 2011 study in The Lancet that suggested that there may be a twofold risk of HIV among women using progesterone-only birth control, such as Depo-Provera, commonly used in sub-Saharan Africa.
After a thorough investigation, a group of experts convened by WHO found the Lancet study inconclusive—specifically, they could find no proven medical link between hormonal contraception and increased HIV risk. However, experts strongly advised women on hormonal contraception to use condoms concurrently to prevent HIV.
To read the PlusNews article, visit: http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94887.
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!
NYC Concedes Cuts to HIV Prevention Funding
New York City's health department has cut $19 million from its HIV prevention budget during the past five years and is planning to cut more—despite rising HIV rates among local gay and bisexual young men, Gay City News reports.
In addition, Public Health Solutions (PHS), the nonprofit organization administering the city's HIV prevention programs, attempted to halve the budgets of nine HIV/AIDS groups in December 2011—including groups such as Iris House and Bronx AIDS Task Force, which focus on at-risk groups with rising HIV rates—but PHS reversed course after pressure from City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
To read the Gay City News article, visit: http://www.gaycitynews.com/articles/2012/02/15/gay_city_news/news/doc4f3c13a7de475289511453.txt.
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!
In addition, Public Health Solutions (PHS), the nonprofit organization administering the city's HIV prevention programs, attempted to halve the budgets of nine HIV/AIDS groups in December 2011—including groups such as Iris House and Bronx AIDS Task Force, which focus on at-risk groups with rising HIV rates—but PHS reversed course after pressure from City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
To read the Gay City News article, visit: http://www.gaycitynews.com/articles/2012/02/15/gay_city_news/news/doc4f3c13a7de475289511453.txt.
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!
Concerns Over Real-Name HIV Testing in China
China's HIV/AIDS community has expressed concern over draft legislation that would require people taking HIV tests to use their real names and, if they test positive, to inform their spouses and/or sexual partners, China Daily reports.
The legislation, currently under consideration in the Guanxi Zhuang region of southern China, is expected to be approved. Opponents see the legislation as an invasion of privacy, and they worry that it will discourage testing. But the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention claims that while real name registration is not currently mandated by law, it is nonetheless a common practice.
The center noted that only 10 percent of registered HIV-positive people were tested anonymously, and that testing continues to increase—from 60 million tests in 2010 to 80 million in 2011.
To read the China Daily article, visit: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-02/13/content_14595275.htm.
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 legislation, currently under consideration in the Guanxi Zhuang region of southern China, is expected to be approved. Opponents see the legislation as an invasion of privacy, and they worry that it will discourage testing. But the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention claims that while real name registration is not currently mandated by law, it is nonetheless a common practice.
The center noted that only 10 percent of registered HIV-positive people were tested anonymously, and that testing continues to increase—from 60 million tests in 2010 to 80 million in 2011.
To read the China Daily article, visit: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-02/13/content_14595275.htm.
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!
Global Fund Support of HIV Prevention Ends in Russia
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is not renewing its financial support for Russian HIV/AIDS prevention programs, The Moscow Times reports.
The Global Fund provided $260 million between 2004 and 2011. Prevention and support programs supported primarily by the Global Fund have had to cut services and staff, and many face the prospect of closure.
The Russian government has promised to increase funding for prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. However, advocates doubt that organizations will receive the promised money, given that less than 150 million rubles of 2011's 500 million ruble prevention budget was spent. Russian health policies raise additional worries, as officials refuse to focus on high-risk groups such as sex workers, men who have sex with men (MSM) and intravenous drug users, while rejecting harm-reduction techniques such as methadone treatment that are known to reduce the spread of HIV.
To read the Moscow Times article, visit: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/hiv-prevention-falls-short-as-funding-ends/453140.html.
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 Global Fund provided $260 million between 2004 and 2011. Prevention and support programs supported primarily by the Global Fund have had to cut services and staff, and many face the prospect of closure.
The Russian government has promised to increase funding for prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. However, advocates doubt that organizations will receive the promised money, given that less than 150 million rubles of 2011's 500 million ruble prevention budget was spent. Russian health policies raise additional worries, as officials refuse to focus on high-risk groups such as sex workers, men who have sex with men (MSM) and intravenous drug users, while rejecting harm-reduction techniques such as methadone treatment that are known to reduce the spread of HIV.
To read the Moscow Times article, visit: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/hiv-prevention-falls-short-as-funding-ends/453140.html.
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!
South Africa to Make Active ARV Ingredients
South Africa will establish its first pharmaceutical plant to manufacture the main chemicals used in HIV drugs in an effort to lower the prices of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, Reuters reports.
The $211 million joint venture with Swiss chemical and biotechnology company Lonza Group will enable the country to produce Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), components that account for about 75 percent of the finished drug dosage. The plant is a step toward producing ARVs in the country by 2016 to support the nearly 5.7 million people with HIV in South Africa.
To read the Reuters article, visit: http://news.yahoo.com/africa-swiss-firm-lonza-211-mln-drug-jv-112441980.html.
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 $211 million joint venture with Swiss chemical and biotechnology company Lonza Group will enable the country to produce Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), components that account for about 75 percent of the finished drug dosage. The plant is a step toward producing ARVs in the country by 2016 to support the nearly 5.7 million people with HIV in South Africa.
To read the Reuters article, visit: http://news.yahoo.com/africa-swiss-firm-lonza-211-mln-drug-jv-112441980.html.
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!
Jewish Congregation Creates Sexuality Course for Kids
Nearly a decade ago, Temple Beth El member Barbara Green sought out a human sexuality class for her son that was based on Jewish values. As the temple-offered classes were not age-appropriate for Green’s then-adolescent son, she approached Rabbi Judith Schindler with the idea of creating such a program.
“The purpose of teaching religion is to give our children the tools they will need to live ethical, holy, successful and productive lives,” said Schindler. “We need to educate them with knowledge surrounding all aspects of life — human sexuality included.”
Green, a licensed physical therapist specializing in pelvic dysfunction, worked with Schindler to assemble a group of experts to develop the curriculum. Contributor Tammy Seigel has social work expertise as well as 25 years in religious and Hebrew school education. “We had a responsibility as a Jewish community to educate our children about sexuality,” said Seigel, and to create “a place they could come to talk about anything.”
The experts retooled the “Our Whole Lives” comprehensive sex education curriculum designed by the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Association, and launched “Just Say Know” for sixth-graders seven years ago.
The program includes a “Relationships and Sex in Judaism” handout created by temple Cantor Andrew Bernard using the six points of the Star of David (reflecting six Jewish principles —holiness, respect, acceptance, commitment, resisting peer pressure and self-respect) and biblical text. Co-ed classes developed for eighth- and ninth-graders offer discussions covering sexual identity, suicide, abuse, health and safety, puberty and bullying.
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 purpose of teaching religion is to give our children the tools they will need to live ethical, holy, successful and productive lives,” said Schindler. “We need to educate them with knowledge surrounding all aspects of life — human sexuality included.”
Green, a licensed physical therapist specializing in pelvic dysfunction, worked with Schindler to assemble a group of experts to develop the curriculum. Contributor Tammy Seigel has social work expertise as well as 25 years in religious and Hebrew school education. “We had a responsibility as a Jewish community to educate our children about sexuality,” said Seigel, and to create “a place they could come to talk about anything.”
The experts retooled the “Our Whole Lives” comprehensive sex education curriculum designed by the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Association, and launched “Just Say Know” for sixth-graders seven years ago.
The program includes a “Relationships and Sex in Judaism” handout created by temple Cantor Andrew Bernard using the six points of the Star of David (reflecting six Jewish principles —holiness, respect, acceptance, commitment, resisting peer pressure and self-respect) and biblical text. Co-ed classes developed for eighth- and ninth-graders offer discussions covering sexual identity, suicide, abuse, health and safety, puberty and bullying.
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!
Afghanistan's Toxic Cocktail of Drugs, Graft, Mafia
A top Afghan health ministry official supports moving injection drug users off heroin and onto methadone as a way to combat HIV/AIDS. “By stopping drug use, you stop HIV transmission in our community,” said Sayed Habib, the health ministry’s top drugs official.
However, treatment programs are the target of organized criminals who earn money from the illegal drug trade, advocates and ministry officials said.
In 2010, the international charity Doctors of the World launched a pilot methadone program for 200 patients, but the counter-narcotics ministry blocked it six months later. Today, the charity has 71 patients but faces a daily struggle getting permission to import methadone.
“A lot of research has been done in Afghanistan. There are no reasons why they should refuse, apart from the linkage between the drug mafia and the ministry for counter-narcotics,” said Habib, noting the illegal drug trade is worth $3.5 million a day just in Kabul. Afghanistan grows about 90 percent of the world’s opium, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, and opium harvests soared by 61 percent last year.
“If we distribute methadone for free, there won’t be any need for heroin and the market in Afghanistan will collapse,” Habib said. Organized criminals “are ready to do anything” to prevent that, including buying off narcotics officials, Habib added.
“There is no evidence” for such a claim, said Abdul Qayyum Samer, a spokesperson for the counter-narcotics ministry.
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!
However, treatment programs are the target of organized criminals who earn money from the illegal drug trade, advocates and ministry officials said.
In 2010, the international charity Doctors of the World launched a pilot methadone program for 200 patients, but the counter-narcotics ministry blocked it six months later. Today, the charity has 71 patients but faces a daily struggle getting permission to import methadone.
“A lot of research has been done in Afghanistan. There are no reasons why they should refuse, apart from the linkage between the drug mafia and the ministry for counter-narcotics,” said Habib, noting the illegal drug trade is worth $3.5 million a day just in Kabul. Afghanistan grows about 90 percent of the world’s opium, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, and opium harvests soared by 61 percent last year.
“If we distribute methadone for free, there won’t be any need for heroin and the market in Afghanistan will collapse,” Habib said. Organized criminals “are ready to do anything” to prevent that, including buying off narcotics officials, Habib added.
“There is no evidence” for such a claim, said Abdul Qayyum Samer, a spokesperson for the counter-narcotics ministry.
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!
HealthHIV Surveys HIV and Primary Care Providers
Two-thirds of HIV treatment providers nationally report increased caseloads, and more than one-third report inadequate reimbursement as a barrier to expanding their practices, a new report shows. Published by the Washington-based HealthHIV, a nonprofit whose mission is to advance effective HIV prevention, care and support, the “Second Annual HealthHIV State of HIV Primary Care Survey” includes data from 1,806 US-based respondents.
Set against a landscape of federal efforts to increase health insurance coverage, the survey found a scarcity of new HIV care providers. Moreover, 22 percent of primary care providers cite reimbursement issues as a significant barrier for their providing HIV services.
Based on survey responses, a “typical” HIV primary care provider is female (58 percent), non-Hispanic (83 percent), and white (68 percent). She has an M.D. (58 percent), is 50- to 59-years old (40 percent), and lives in an urban community (64 percent). Furthermore, she is a family practice specialist (46 percent), practicing in the South (39 percent), in a community health center (36 percent).
For more information about the survey, visit: http://www.HealthHIV.org.
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!
Set against a landscape of federal efforts to increase health insurance coverage, the survey found a scarcity of new HIV care providers. Moreover, 22 percent of primary care providers cite reimbursement issues as a significant barrier for their providing HIV services.
Based on survey responses, a “typical” HIV primary care provider is female (58 percent), non-Hispanic (83 percent), and white (68 percent). She has an M.D. (58 percent), is 50- to 59-years old (40 percent), and lives in an urban community (64 percent). Furthermore, she is a family practice specialist (46 percent), practicing in the South (39 percent), in a community health center (36 percent).
For more information about the survey, visit: http://www.HealthHIV.org.
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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