AIDS 2016

aidsmap news from AIDS 2016

• New York clinic outlines how to improve uptake of PrEP by transgender people

  Transgender people
  Roger Pebody | 19 September 2016

  Dedicated efforts are needed to engage transgender men and women with clinical services and to encourage them to use pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), Asa Radix of the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center in New ...

• Managing non-communicable diseases among people living with HIV

  Cardiovascular disease
  Theo Smart | 13 September 2016

  Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) – including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers, and other illnesses – will represent a significant challenge for HIV care in low- and middle-income countries as the population of people on HIV ...

• San Francisco reports new low in HIV infections and faster treatment, but disparities remain

  Achieving the 90-90-90 target
  Liz Highleyman | 05 September 2016

  On 1 September the San Francisco Department of Public Health released its HIV Epidemiology Annual Report 2015, showing that the number of newly diagnosed HIV infections has continued to fall and people with ...

• Vaginal ring for HIV prevention effective and acceptable

  Microbicides
  Roger Pebody | 02 September 2016

  An updated adherence analysis from the ASPIRE study indicates that consistent users of a vaginal ring containing dapivirine experienced 65% fewer infections, the 21st International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2016) in Durban, South Africa heard in July. ...

• Study looks at use of PrEP during pregnancy and breastfeeding

  PrEP
  Liz Highleyman | 01 September 2016

  Women in San Francisco and New York City frequently chose to use Truvada for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) when it was offered as an additional tool for preventing HIV infection during the pre-conception period, ...

• Realism needed about the benefits and risks of taking part in HIV cure studies

  The search for a cure
  Roger Pebody | 31 August 2016

  A significant proportion of people living with HIV would be willing to take part in a study towards a cure for HIV, research presented at the 21st International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2016) in Durban, South ...

• US PrEP study achieves high levels of engagement and adherence among black men who have sex with men

  PrEP
  Gus Cairns | 27 August 2016

  What was described at the 21st International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2016) as “the first PrEP trial devised and run by four black gay men” has shown that high levels of PrEP (pre-exposure ...

• Neglect of infectious diseases in prisons highlighted at AIDS 2016

  Prisoners
  Theo Smart | 25 August 2016

  “Prisoners are among the most neglected of the key populations; they bear higher burdens of HIV, viral hepatitis and tuberculosis than in the communities from which they come,” said Professor Chris Beyrer of ...

• New WHO algorithm to prevent TB deaths in very ill people with HIV

  TB treatment
  Theo Smart | 23 August 2016

  The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a new diagnostic algorithm in order to reduce the likelihood of ‘seriously ill’ people with HIV dying of undiagnosed and untreated tuberculosis (TB). “Despite being ...

• How can clinical services engage men who have sex with men in Africa?

  Men who have sex with men (MSM)
  Roger Pebody | 19 August 2016

  Men who have sex with men living in African countries have an extremely high burden of HIV, Stefan Baral of Johns Hopkins University reminded delegates at the 21st International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2016) in Durban, ...

• Ongoing hepatitis B virus replication associated with higher mortality for people with HIV

  Hepatitis B
  Liz Highleyman | 16 August 2016

  People with HIV and hepatitis B virus (HBV) co-infection have more than double the risk of death if they have ongoing high-level HBV replication, indicating a need for prompt treatment, according to an ...

• Vaginal bacteria increase HIV susceptibility and may reduce PrEP effectiveness

  Microbicides
  Liz Highleyman | 15 August 2016

  Overgrowth of a certain species of vaginal bacteria was associated with a 13-fold higher likelihood of acquiring HIV, while another species was found to lower tenofovir levels and may contribute to reduced efficacy ...

• No new HIV infections seen in San Francisco's Strut PrEP programme

  PrEP
  Liz Highleyman | 11 August 2016

  A community-based sexual health clinic in San Francisco has offered nurse-led pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) services to more than 1200 clients and has seen no HIV infections to date, according to a presentation last ...

• Efavirenz appears to be associated with elevated suicide risk in START trial

  Mental and emotional health problems
  Liz Highleyman | 10 August 2016

  Participants in the START treatment-timing trial who took antiretroviral regimens containing efavirenz had an increased risk of suicidal and self-injuring behaviour than those not using efavirenz, though the number of events was small ...

• A detectable CMV viral load could signal a high risk of mortality in older individuals hospitalised with HIV-associated TB

  Tuberculosis and HIV
  Theo Smart | 09 August 2016

  A study conducted in a cohort of hospitalised adults with HIV-associated tuberculosis (TB) co-infection from Khayelitsha found that having a detectable cytomegalovirus (CMV) viral load was associated with higher mortality within the first ...

• Package of prophylaxis against infections reduces the risk of death for people starting HIV treatment very late

  Opportunistic infections
  Keith Alcorn | 08 August 2016

  A package of enhanced prophylaxis against infections significantly reduced the risk of death in adults and children with advanced HIV disease after starting antiretroviral treatment in a randomised study, Professor James Hakim of ...

• AbbVie 3D and 2D hepatitis C combos work well for people with HIV and HCV co-infection

  Hepatitis C treatment
  Liz Highleyman | 05 August 2016

  AbbVie's paritaprevir-based 3D regimen for hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 and 2D regimen for genotype 4 were shown to be highly effective and well tolerated for HIV-positive people with HCV co-infection ...

• START analysis looks at who benefits most from immediate HIV treatment

  Starting treatment
  Liz Highleyman | 04 August 2016

  Starting antiretroviral therapy (ART) soon after HIV diagnosis led to better outcomes than delayed treatment in all population sub-groups in the START trial, researchers reported at the 21st International AIDS Conference (AIDS ...

• Training community health workers to perform intensified TB case finding associated with a surge in TB diagnoses in a rural Malawi study

  TB diagnosis
  Theo Smart | 02 August 2016

  Intensified tuberculosis case finding (TB ICF) by community health workers was associated with a dramatic (20-fold) increase in TB case detection at a very busy antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinic in rural Malawi, ...

• Searching for the next ‘Berlin patient’: doctors document bone-marrow recipients with HIV

  The search for a cure
  Gus Cairns | 01 August 2016

  The ‘Berlin patient’, Timothy Ray Brown, has now survived seven years off antiretroviral therapy with no sign of HIV reappearing in his body, and as time passes his position as ‘the person cured ...