Health Study: HIV Becoming Less Deadly

Study: HIV Becoming Less Deadly

HIV is evolving into a less infectious and deadly form, according to a study by the University of Oxford. When HIV infects an individual with an immune system better equipped to battle the virus, it may become less effective at replicating. This weaker version of the virus may then be passed on. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrate evidence of this process occurring in Africa by comparing versions of the virus in Botswana and South Africa. Researchers warn that even less infectious forms of HIV could still cause AIDS. More… Discuss

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Americans with HIV Undertreated

Only 30 percent of Americans infected with HIV have the virus under control, according to a new report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Based on statistics from 2011, the report found that the remaining 70 percent failed to achieve “viral suppression” for a number of reasons. Of those individuals, 66 percent were not getting regular care; 20 percent were unaware they were infected; 10 percent were unable to suppress the virus with antiretroviral treatment; and 4 percent were not prescribed antiretroviral drugs. According to the CDC, up to 50,000 people in the US are infected with HIV every year. More… Discuss

Early Intervention No HIV Cure

Promising results from several babies born with HIV and treated with antiretroviral drugs within hours of birth had led to hopes that such early interventions could prevent the virus establishing reservoirs in the body and offer a cure for the disease, but one by one the virus reemerged in these patients once they were weaned from their medications. Most recently, doctors in Italy reported on a child who had been placed on an antiretroviral regimen within hours of birth and had long had no detectable viral load in his bloodstream. At the age of three, he was taken off the medication, and within two weeks showed signs of the virus again. More… Discuss

HIV Reemerges in “Cured” Child

A US-born toddler who, it had been hoped, had been cured of HIV after receiving antiretroviral treatment within hours of birth is, sadly, still infected. Tests had found no detectable levels of the virus in her blood as recently as March, despite the fact that she had not received treatment for nearly two years. Earlier this month, however, the four-year-old had a positive result. The news of the failed cure comes as a blow to the research community and indeed society at large. More… Discuss

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ARTICLE: EARLY ANTIRETROVIRAL INTERVENTION HAS SECOND SUCCESS

Early Antiretroviral Intervention Has Second Success

A second baby may have been cured of HIV as a result of early, intensive antiretroviral drug therapy. One year ago, doctors reported the case of a baby who was believed to have been cured of HIV following aggressive antiretroviral therapy begun when she was just a day old. Now, doctors are reporting similar success with a second child. She was administered her first antiretroviral drugs just four hours after birth and, though she remains on a cocktail of these drugs to this day, doctors are optimistic that the lack of detectable HIV in her blood indicates that her infection is at the very least in remission if not cured. More… Discuss